Undiscovered
by Appeltje Fruitschaal
Summary: 'How much bad luck can one person have' Rose wondered as she fell down for the second time that month. 'Oh, great, there's that git's surprised expression again. I really hate that on Malfoy. It doesn't suit him.' A tale of Quidditch on it's finer points, and the danger that people with a Quidditch obsession pose to the people around them, because in the end, it's all James' fault
1. Prologue

**Prologue. Not essential to the story that takes place in sixth year. If you don't care for their first day, go ahead and skip this chapter. I won't hold it against you. **

~~.~~

Rose´s eyes shot open the second before impact.

Wham!

The car hit something on the rode and shook heavily

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione shouted. Rose rubbed the top of her head where she had hit it, while her father mumbled an apology.

Rose snuggled back into her chair when the pain subsided. She wanted to fall back asleep.

When sleep did not come immediately, she watched her mother berate her father for driving too negligent.

It was her first time going to the kings cross station today, her first year going to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry, and yet she couldn't help but get incredibly sleepy the moment she set a foot into the car, like she hadn't counted the days until she could finally go.

It was something her little brother shared, if the irritated noise from her right was to believe.

"I'm trying to sleep!" Hugo, cried out. Rose glanced over to him, but could only see his back and auburn curls pocking out from under his arms that were covering his face.

"I'm trying to get us there alive." Her mother snapped back. Rose looked over to her and saw big bags under her tired eyes. Rose hid her head under her arms to block the light out.

So her mother hadn't been sleeping well. It wasn't really surprising. Her mother had a new case that was consuming literally all her time. Life as a lawyer was a hard one, just like being family of one. Hermione wasn't forgiving when sleep deprived.

"I'm getting us there alive, honey. Don't you worry."

Rose peeked out from over her arm to look at her father. She almost burst out of giggles, only stopped by the memory of her mother's glares.

Her father was driving while biting the top of his tongue between his teeth. His nose almost touched the dashboard and his eyes were turned to slits in concentration.

"How can I not worry when we almost crashed just now?" Hermione asked sharply.

"We didn't. I just didn't see the speed bump." Ron said, not taking his eyes off the road.

Rose closed her eyes and sunk deep ion the seat, blocking out the conversation. She wanted to get some more sleep before getting there.

She didn't like it when her parents argued.

~~.~~

Rose looked around with big eyes, wondering how something could be this amazing.

Her mother squeezed her shoulder. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Rose nodded, looking around at the fog concealed station. Somehow, the fog made the station that much more attractive. The mystery it added worked perfectly with the old design and many disembodied voices echoing around.

"It's just like we're teenagers again and we're going back." Ron breathed.

"Let's go find Harry and Ginny." Hermione said, pushing the trolley with Rose's trunk on it before her. Rose followed her without complaint into the currents of white mist.

Rose grabbed her mother's hand, afraid of losing her. She looked around and saw her brother and father following her. Her brother was scowling rather much. He hadn't enjoyed waking up.

"I don't see them anywhere." Ron said, looking around.

"That isn't very odd, is it? I can barely see my own feet." Hermione said absentmindedly, peering into the mist.

"No." Ron said back. Rose glanced over her shoulder and saw him getting red from embarrassment. Rose didn't see why he bothered. Her mother outwitted him every other day, and most of the time far more spectacularly than that. Maybe it was worse because Hermione hadn't even said t to outwit him?

Hermione led them over to the part of the station where the white mist was less thick and Rose could see up to twenty feet away.

The white mist was swirling around in circles like smoke coming from a big bonfire and mingled with the white breath coming from her mouth, dancing further along and out of sight. Rose stared after it, transfixed by its dance.

Ron started lifting her trunk into the long, red train. The Hogwarts express. "I'm going to change into my robes." Rose said and darted over to her father and took her robes out of her trunk.

"Be right back." She messed her brothers hair in a way she knew he hated. He grunted and swatted her hand away in annoyance.

Rose looked expectantly up at her mother, who smiled and gave her directions to a changing booth.

When Rose came back, straightening her brand new robes and feeling where she could best put her wand (She decided she would keep it in her sock, no way she was going to lose it there), she passed a solemn looking family of three. She smiled at the boy, who looked around her age, trying to be nice. He just looked at her intently with serious, grey eyes.

"Oh, please stop looking so smug." Hugo exclaimed when she gave him a smug look, adjusting her robes just for the effect. Reason for changing on the station? Annoying Hugo of course. He wanted to go too, but had to wait two years before he was old enough. It was pure gold and Rose couldn't not rub it in his face.

"I do not look smug." Rose said, now smirking. Hugo narrowed his eyes at her and looked away. Rose stuck her tongue out at him and turned away too, going back to peering into the deep mist, that was turning thicker again.

"I think that's them, Al." A familiar voice said somewhere from the white fog. Rose spun around at the mention of her cousin. Four figures stepped out from behind the white curtain and into her line of vision.

"Hi." Her cousin, Al said, looking immensely relieved. Rose beamed at him. They would start Hogwarts this year, together, like best friends and cousins. She had been looking forward since… since she was old enough to understand the concept of a boarding school.

"Parked alright then?" Ron asked Harry. Rose almost hit herself. Of course he was going to brag about parking okay. Especially after his mistake earlier on the road.

"I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner."

Rose looked at her mother to see her reaction. She smiled and said "No, I didn't. I had complete faith in you."

Rose smiled to herself. It was funny how you could twist sentences and words so you didn't lie but didn't say the full truth either. Hermione had never come out and said it but Rose knew she hadn't expected Ron to pass the first time he tried. She had been convinced he could pass it without confounding the examiner eventually, but the first time he tried? No.

"So, how did it go with James? " Rose asked Al. Al shrugged and looked a bit depressed.

"Good I guess. He only said ten times I would end up in Slytherin before mum told him off and he stopped."

"Well, that is fifteen times less than usually." Rose said cheerfully, nudging him and trying to stop him from looking so down. James, Al's older brother always teased Al with everything he could. It was rather funny at times but he didn't realise when he was pushing it too far, like now.

Al sighed and smiled weakly. "Yeah, you're right."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you won't be in Slytherin, you're not sneaky enough." Rose said.

"If you're not in Gryffindor we'll disinherit you, but no pressure." Rose looked at her father solemnly. He always had this knack for having the most awful timing. Hugo and Lily were laughing. Rose looked over to Al and saw that the weak smile had disappeared completely and he was looking downright depressed again.

"Ron! He doesn't mean it." Said Hermione and Ginny. Well, of course he didn't. Hermione would never let him, but that didn't mean Ron would be any less disappointed if his only daughter would be in anything but Griffindor.

Ron wasn't paying attention anymore but was now looking at the solemn family Rose had passed before. The white mist was thinning again and their line of vision stretched ever further.

"Look who it is."

Rose looked from her parents, to the family, wondering what was special about them for her father to single them out. There were a dozen other families in view.

The boy who was probably at the same age as her and his father both had light blonde hair, almost as white as the fog that was still twirling around them. They resembled each other as much as Al and his father, Harry (And Rose was still convinced they were clones). The woman (that was probably his mother, but he didn't resemble her in the slightest) had light brown hair and stood up straight and proud. They struck Rose as a formal family. Proud and gracious, if a bit stiff.

"So that's little Scorpius." Ron said to Harry.

So the boy with those intent eyes was named Scorpius? It was an odd name. Scorpius. Scooo-rrrr-pius. Piuuuus. Scorpiuuuuus Scorpius.

Rose and Al exchanged a pitying look, feeling sorry for someone who had to bear having such an.. unusual name.

"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains."

"Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"

"You're right, sorry," said Ron. But being Ron, he was unable to stop himself from adding "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

Rose felt the urge to hit herself on the head. It was typical of Ron to mention marriage before she had even met the boy.

She wanted to retort to him, but before she had opened her mouth, a yell had already interrupted her.

"Hey!" James voice came from somewhere.

Rose looked around and saw he had reappeared from behind Harry and Ginny. He looked around and looked ready to burst with excitement.

"Teddy's back there." He said breathlessly, pointing over his shoulder into the deep white mist. Al was right, James was a drama queen.

"Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!" He looked up at the adults and his face fell at the lack of reaction.

"Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin!

And I asked Teddy what he was doing –"

"You interrupted them?" said Ginny exasperated. "You are so like Ron –" Rose giggled at the comparison. They were alike.

"- and he said he'd come to see her off!" James continued like his mother hadn't interrupted them. "And then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!" James added, worried he hadn't gotten the point across.

"Oh, it would be lovely if they got married!" whispered Lily ecstatically to Rose and Hugo. "Teddy would really be part of the family then!" Rose nodded, craning her neck to look further into the mist, hoping to get a glimpse of her cousin and Teddy.

"He already comes round for dinner about four times a week," said Harry "Why don't we just invite him to live with is and have done with it?"

"Yeah!" said James enthusiastically. "I don't mind sharing with Al-Teddy could have my room!"

"No," said Harry firmly, "you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished." Rose agreed with her uncle that it wasn't the best idea to let them share a room Either one of them killed the other, or they teamed up and would terrorise the rest of the family. Rose didn't like either of the options. She didn't like funerals, or being pranked.

"It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board." Harry said. Rose looked around and saw her parents, standing a few yards away and talking amongst each other.

Rose skidded over to them and hugged them both, saying goodbye.

"Don't break any rules, and do your best." Hermione said, whipping the tears out of her eyes. Rose nodded, smiling at her mother. "I won't mum. Good luck at work." It only made Hermione sob louder, saying something about having such a considerate daughter.

"Give 'em fire, Rosie." Ron said with a wink while messing her hair up. Rose nodded, grinning back up at him. "And don't forget to write." He added.

"I won't." Rose said, her eyes landed on Hugo, and she engulfed him into a hug. He protested loudly, but didn't fight it.

"See you, little monster." Rose said, pressing a quick kiss on top of his head. She quickly hopped on the train after her cousin James, before Hugo could kick her for that. She looked after James as he sprint away up the corridor, looking for friends.

She stood there for a moment, waiting for Al. She wasn't going to start her adventure of Hogwarts without him. She meant to at least start and end it with him.

Al was having a conversation with Harry though, and it looked pretty serious. Rose hoped Harry would be able to get Al out of his nervous, depressed state.

Ginny waved at her and Rose waved back, her eyes kept wandering back to Al though.

Doors slammed shut along the length of the scarlet train, and Rose hoped Al would hurry up. Her mother yelled out to her, saying something about treating people right or something. Rose nodded and waved, pretending to have heard.

Al finally jumped into the carriage and Rose let out a relieved breath he was finally there. Ginny closed the door behind them.

Rose looked over to the other students and saw many of them were looking at her uncle Harry. Al seemed to notice too because he demanded "Why are they all staring?"

"Don't let it worry you," Ron half yelled through the closed door. "It's me, I'm extremely famous."

Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed and then the Hogwarts express slowly started moving away from the station, away from her parents and everything she knew and to a place she had only heard storied about. A magical place, called Hogwarts.

"Come on." Al said, grabbing Rose's hand and dragging her with him. "Let's go find us an apartment."

Rose let him steer her to an empty apartment without complaint. When he entered, she was surprised to see he had managed to find the compartment where Ron and Harry had stored their trunks, in one time.

Rose looked at Al impressed and he looked back at her with a rather too smug a look.

"Stop looking so smug." Rose said, jumping onto a seat by the window and curling up in it. She always felt like a cat doing it. She liked cats.

Al took the seat opposites her and began swinging his legs happily. Rose watched his for a few minutes while he was looking around happily and gazing out of the window before cracking.

"Alright. Spit it out, what did your father say that got you all happy and joyful?"

Al smiled. "Those are synonyms."

"You're kidding." Rose said dryly.

"Nope."

Don't change the subject." Rose said. Al smiled again. "Just something father to son."

Rose bit her lip, wondering if she could ask any further. She was too curious for her own good. "Which is?" She tried.

"Something I'm not telling you." Al said, still smiling.

Rose scowled, then let it go. Whatever it was, she was glad Harry had said it. She like happy Al a thousand times more than sad Al.

The compartment door opened and a girl with dark blond hair appeared in the doorway. She smiled shyly and half waved.

Rose smiled back and beckoned Her. "Hi Abby."

Abby Longbottom climbed in the seat besides Rose. "It's okay if I sit with you right? I knew you were going to start Hogwarts this year too, but I didn't really remember it until I saw you sitting here. I could only find compartments with older students before, and I don't want to sit with them…" She trailed off.

Rose giggled and nodded. "Of course you can, right Al?" Al nodded too, and went directly back to staring out of the window.

Abby watched him for a moment before turning back to Rose with a questioning look. Rose shrugged. "He's happy. He's easily distracted if he's happy."

"I'm not… Oh look at that, that was a horse. Did you see that Horse?" Al said, pointing out of the window. Rose smiled and gave Abby a look that said 'See what I mean'.

Abby giggled. Rose had known Abby for as long as she could remember. Their parents were friends and Abby and her played together a lot when they were young. It had become rarer and rarer over the years though and the contact had wavered between the two.

Abby was a sweet girl, with her father's kind, round face and her mother's posture. Slim and tall.

"So, where do you think you're going to end up? Griffindor?" Abby said after a long silence.

Rose nodded and pounced on the subject happy to have something to talk about. even Al was willing to converse about it. They speculated in which house they could be, and where they wanted to end up in.

~~.~~

Rose looked at everything in the great hall in awe. From the hundreds of students to the ceiling (Which did not look like a ceiling in the slightest), to the ghost that shined like torches between the students at the four tables, to the suits of amours that lined the hall and guarded the door. Her eyes couldn't find something to rest on and roamed over it all, trying to take it all in.

The professor that had led them into the hall, professor Hidgebridge, conjured a chair with a elegant wave of her wand, and set a battered old hat on it.

Rose stared at the hat. It looked as old as the castle itself. Rose wondered how it didn't fall apart, when the brim of the hat suddenly opened. For a moment she was afraid that her thought had made it indeed fall apart, until she heard the deep voice coming from it.

A deep voice she had before always associated with a really muscular man began singing.

Every student in this hall

Had a try with me

And they all will fall

Right on their feet, you'll see.

My intelligence is not my own

I admit it grudgingly

I borrow and rent this loan

From four wizards, Brighter than any of thy.

They wanted to share their knowledge

With young wizards, just like you

I know it is foliage

But I replace them too.

They all treasured different abilities

I hear you thinking, what are these?

Godric Griffindor loves Bravery,

And Fierce selfless acts,

In a Chivalrous Griffindor you see

Determination, for a fact.

True and honest Helga Hufflepuff,

Takes those fair of play,

They are modest, not too rough

And say what they have to say.

Wise Rohana Ravenclaw took,

The clearest of minds

Creativity and wisdom will look

There for their witty kind.

And Salazar Slytherin,

Wanted determination and desire,

Ambition is something wherein,

Cunning Slytherins aspire.

So put me on so I can see,

Where you ought to be,

I hope this song has taught you more

Why you'll be where you'll be.'

Rose stared at the hat with wide eyes while it bowed once before all tables, then turned her eyes accusingly to Al, who was in turn glaring at someone at the Griffindor table.

A loud applause echoed through the hall, but Rose paid it no mind. "We have to try on a _hat_?" She said. "You said we had to duel each other!"

Abby, who was standing between the two cousins, giggled. "Duel? How, we can't even preform magic yet."

"James told me!" Al said, holding up his hands in innocence. The applause faded away. Rose perched her lips and hissed "You seriously believed James?" She asked incredulous.

Al shrugged. "He seemed so sincere."

Professor Hidgebridge stepped forward again, a long scroll in her hands.

"If I read out your name." Her loud and kind voice echoed around the great hall, hat had turned completely silent the moment she had stepped forward. "You try on the sorting hat." She pointed at the old hat. "And it will sort you into your house."

She unrolled the scroll and read out the first name.

"Applebee, Olivia." A dark-skinned girl with dreadlocks stepped forwards and half ran to the hat before slamming it on. The hat waited for a few seconds before pronouncing with a loud and clear voice "**Ravenclaw!**" The second table to the left burst out in applause.

Next was "Beamish, Pippin." A skinny boy, the perfect build for a seeker, who had determent expression on his face and was sorted into "**Hufflepuff!**", the second table to the right.

"Bern, Levi." Became another Ravenclaw and "Blishwick, Tammy" Became a Slytherin.

Rose began gazing out over the hall again. The long house tabled became fuller by the minute and she wondered what would happen if she would be sorted into another house than Griffindor. She didn't know if she was brave enough to be in Griffindor, and everyone always told her that she was terribly smart. What if she would be sorted into Ravenclaw? Would her father be disappointed?

Her eyes landed on the Slytherin table and a terrible thought hit her. What if she would be sorted into Slytherin house? It wouldn't make a difference to her mother, but Ron would probably sulk over it for.. the rest of his life. He wasn't very good at letting go of grudges, and his grudge against Slytherin house was a deep one.

"Longbottom, Augusta." Professor Hidgebridge read out. Abby grunted in annoyance from Rose's left and stepped forward saying "It's Abby, for crying out loud." Under her breath. A smile appeared on Rose's face. Abby. Augusta Alice Longbottom. She had forgotten her full name was Augusta. Abby would be pleased to hear that. She didn't particularly like Augusta, to say it lightly, and insisted everyone called her Abby. _'cause Augusta sounds too old and Angie sounds too much like angel, and I'm not old or an angel._ Rose remembered.

She slammed the hat onto her head and the hat almost directly pronounced "**Griffindor!**"

Abby skidded over to the Griffindor table and when she sat down, Rose saw the big smile on her face. Of course, Abby had wanted to be in Griffindor, just like Al and her.

Rose returned her attention back to the sorting after that. "Lufkin, Reg." Was sorted in "**Hufflepuff!**".

"Malfoy, Scorpius." Rose watched with big eyes as the boy with the intent grey eyes stepped forward and stumbled his way over to the sorting hat. She remembered how her parents had singled him and his family out. Malfoy. It did ring a bell somewhere. She didn't know where though.

"It's that boy from the station." Al whispered. Rose nodded, not taking her eyes off him as he put on the sorting hat, concealing his white blond hair.

"I know. Wonder where he'll end up in." She whispered back. Then she remembered. His father had done something in the war. Something big, fighting for Riddle. She frowned and tried to remember further, then gave up.

It was not like it mattered any way. That had been is father. He was a complete different person.

She stared at the back of his head while the seconds ticked away. The sorting hat did take his time with him. She wondered if it would take as much time with her.

Finally the sorting hat shouted out "**Griffindor!**"

Everyone in the great hall stayed quiet while the blond boy plucked the hat from his head and put it on the chair carefully. Apparently he shared Rose's view on how it looked like it could fall apart any second. Rose saw he was white as parchment.

He turned around and looked at the hall and hesitated a moment, before looking down and turning to the Griffindor table. A shattering of applause rose up when he started stumbling toward them, but it wasn't nearly as loud as before and died away quickly.

Rose wondered why he got so little applause. Maybe his dad was more famous than she had thought before. Maybe he was expected to go to Slytherin? Probably.

Rose spent the next line of students looking at the blond boy, who was sitting at the far corner of the Griffindor table and had his head downturned. He looked awfully depressed, much like Al had looked that morning, at King's cross station.

When he looked up and turned his attention to the sorting, Rose quickly looked away. She didn't want him to think she had been staring at him, which she had been of course.

"Weird that that Malfoy bloke turned up in Griffindor, right?" Al whispered. Rose shrugged. "Why is it weird? I'm sorry, but whenever Dad rants about something or someone I automatically zoom out." She added when she saw his disbelieving stare.

"Well, his dad and my dad were rivals at school, and he comes from a very long line of purebloods, all in Slytherin." Rose nodded slowly. Al was right, it was odd. Not that the boy with blond hair ended up in Griffindor, no. It was odd Al was telling her something she didn't know, instead of the other way around. She was usually the walking encyclopaedia.

"Well, it isn't that odd. All Weasleys were always in Griffindor, but Molly turned up in Ravenclaw." Rose whispered back. Her eyes flicked toward the Ravenclaw table and found Molly Weasley, sitting among some friends.

"That was odd too."

Before Rose had something witty to reply, professor Hidgebridge called Al's name.

"Potter, Albus." Rose blinked at Al's full name and almost burst out in laughter at the stony look on Al's face. He didn't like the name much either.

"Go on Severus." Rose whispered, giving him a good natured shove. Al stumbled a bit and recovered his balance before falling over.

He scurried over to the sorting hat and slammed it on is head, no regard to its frailty. Rose watched Al as the sorting hat stayed on his head. He was playing with the end of his robes. After at most half a minute, the sorting hat roared "**Griffindor!**"

Rose clapped with the rest of Griffindor house, even if she hadn't been sorted yet. Al's relieved face was enough for her to want to kiss the sorting hat, disgusting or not, in gratitude.

Now Rose was standing alone. She had to wait quite a while before her name was being called. It was one of the disadvantages of having a surname that began with a W.

She was forced to watch countless (okay, if she tried, she was sure she could count them, there weren't that many students to begin with) students being sorted into one of the four houses. Her stomach began to rumble rather uncomfortable.

Finally, finally, finally the W came.

'Weasley, Rose." Rose hurried over to the chair, trying to ignore all the eyes on her and concentrating on not tripping. The hat was even more ragged and dirty from up close. Rose quickly sat down and put the sorting head on. It slid over her eyes. Seeing as it was far too big and Rose looked against the inside of the hat.

_What a bright mind, we got her. Yes, yes. How very promising. _

Rose almost yelled in fright when the hat started talking to her. She tried to control her frantically beating heart and ragged breath. It was okay. Just a hat… talking to her.

_Not to worry. It's perfectly normal. I talk to everyone. Now back to where to put you._

Rose squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the hat to decide. Where did she want to be put? She had discussed it earlier that day, but now she wasn't so sure anymore. Griffindor would be great, but Ravenclaw sounded nice too. Bright and witty. She was that, right? She suddenly noticed the hat was softly taking to itself.

_And brave… yes. Talented, helpful. Loyal too. A tad lazy, but bright and she's got much individuality. yes, yes… Hard one, this one. The most promising are always the hardest. _

The sorting hat spoke louder in her hat, directing his words directly to her. _I think you would do best in "__**Griffindor!**__"_

The last word he spoke both in her mind and out loud. It reverberated through Rose's head as she slowly pulled off the head and set it back on the table, before running over to the cheering Griffindor table. Her cousins were cheering the loudest as she down next to Al and Abby.

"It took it's time with you." Abby remarked, while Terrance Wood was being sorted into Ravenclaw.

Rose nodded. "It was just sort of mumbling to himself about how I was hard to place."

She looked wishfully at the empty plates as her stomach gave another growl.

She looked at Kevin Xing, who had just been sorted into Griffindor and clapped with the rest of the house.

"Well, you're here now." Al said cheerfully, clapping her on the back. "Can't they hurry up with the sorting, I'm starving."

"Just two more." Abby said, who was watching the last two students, a boy and a girl.

"Gilly Youdle." The girl with long black hair skidded forward to the sorting hat. The moment the sorting hat touched her black hair, it shouted out "**Griffindor!**" Rose clapped again while the girl joined the Griffindor table.

"Just one more." Al said wistfully.

The last boy, Zane Zabini, was sorted into Slytherin.

Al let out a triumphant noise when the applause died down, staring at the plates like he was a wild animal, ready to pounce on his prey. It was the same look every other male Weasley always got in his eyes the moment it spotted food.

Yes, she called her family 'it'. Them in close proximity did not deserve to be called anything but 'it'.

His stare was not yet rewarded with food though, as much to Rose's disappointment as to Al's. Instead a friendly looking man stood up and cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Hello, And Welcome to another year of Hogwarts. I am Professor Randle and I am your headmaster from this year on. There are a few words I want to say before the feast starts," Al groaned "And here they are. Enjoy your meal." He spread his arms and food appeared on the previously clean plates.

Al wasted no time and loaded his plate until the brim. Rose grinned and joined him.

_And thus the feast begins. _She thought, smiling, looking first at Al, then at Abby.

~~.~~

Rose was following the prefect tiredly. All the food she had consumed (Not as much as Al, but still a considering amount) had made her sleepy. She rubbed her eyes and willed one foot in front of the other. Abby was walking besides her, looking just as exhausted.

"I think I'm going to sleep for a day straight." Abby said, yawning loudly. Rose nodded and yawned too.

She wanted to ask Al if he thought so too, but suddenly noticed he wasn't walking with them.

"Where's Al?" She asked, half stumbling. Abby looked around and shrugged. "Who cares. What I want to know is where my bed is."

Rose nodded, but kept looking anyway. She spotted her cousin suddenly, walking next to someone with white blond hair. He wasn't stumbling or dragging his feet. Rose looked at her cousin in jealousy. How could he still be wide awake while he had eaten even more than she had? Then her eyes slid over to the white blond next to her. That had to be Scorpius Malfoy, she was sure of it.

Her cousin was talking to Scorpius Malfoy? Rose was too tired to think about it, and just stumbled further, trying not to trip and trying to remember what corridors, stairs and hidden passageways they took.

When they arrived in front of a portrait of a fat lady, she was utterly lost. She had, despites her best efforts, been unable to keep up with the twirling way up to the portrait.

"So, there is a password you have to have to open the portrait." The prefect said nervously. Rose yawned again and nodded, not that it mattered if she did or didn't.

"Flubber worms." The prefect squeaked to the portrait, which swung open revealing an entrance to a room. Rose climbed with a lot of effort through the portrait hole and came into a circular room with a lot of comfortable looking armchairs and a big fireplace to the side.

The prefect directed them up one staircase and the boys up another. Rose and Abby found their dormitories three staircases up.

Both took one look at the round room with five big four-poster beds and fell down on one, only having enough energy left in them to mumble goodnight to each other.

Rose fell into a deep, content sleep, snuggling deep into her new bed.

Her first night at Hogwarts was everything she had expected and more.

~~.~~

_First chapter, yay._

_I'm writing this story for , so here it is. _

_I hoped you enjoyed it. If you did, review and tell me why. If you didn't, review and criticise me to your heart's content. Really, I love criticism(Weird, I know) because I believe it makes you a better writer.. so get anything you have to say off your chest in a lovely review._


	2. Life as it goes

The Monday sky was the deepest dark Rose had ever seen. The only thing disrupting the empty void, were the few light specks. All thick bowls of light, transporting visions of thousands years ago.

Rose blinked and looked away from the night sky before she got lost in its infinitive depths. She loved the night sky, she had always loved it. The feeling of unimportance and smallness comforted her. The high expectations everyone put on her slipped of her shoulders in this one moment for herself.

Rose tipped her broom down, racing toward the ground at a big speed, reveling in the feeling of the wind racing past her skin and through her hair. She let out an ecstatic yelp and pulled up just before she would smash against the ground, landing with a bit more force than she meant to.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she stumbled and fell down into the cool, dew covered grass. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath, smelling the smell of a fresh day. It was barely seven in the morning. Normally Rose wasn't awake this early. She wasn't what you call a 'morning person', preferring to sleep in till an hour or eleven.

Rose pushed herself up and stretched. She had slept all yesterday afternoon, and the whole night and woken a six. It had been the oddest thing, being woken by the sound of owls fluttering past her window and hooting. They were so noisy; Rose had even wondered how she normally slept through it.  
Rose had also discovered that at six 'o clock, no one was awake and there was nothing to do, so she had decided to fly a bit, just so she would wake up properly. It had worked.

Her muscles were on fire with energy. Rose pushed up against the ground and ran off to the castle, giving in to her bodies desire to burn the pent up energy she had gotten from her suicide dive. The cold, dew covered grass under her feet felt like she was running over water, and Rose grinning mischievously.  
The caste was still half asleep when Rose re-entered it. The cold stones felt safe under her feet. She looked around at the dimly lighted hall and smiled. The old castle was as beautiful as ever and she was one of the few people in the world able to admire it.

She circled through the castle for a few minutes, looking for the broom closet she usually stored her broom in and getting more disorientated with every step she took. Even after six years, she still couldn't completely find her way through the castle. She didn't let getting lost in a big old castle ruin her good mood though.  
When she had finally stored her broom away, Rose started humming softly to herself and skipped back to the Griffindor tower, her hair bouncing happily behind her.

Odd? Yes. Fun? Yes. It was fun to skip barefoot to one of the towers of the caste, so why wouldn't she do so?  
The common room was deserted when Rose entered it and Rose learned that not many people were awake and about at seven 'o clock either.  
She climbed the staircases and went over her schedule for the day.

Breakfast, Arithmancy, charms, free period, Herbology, lunch, transfiguration, free period, supper, Sleep.

The deep and peaceful breaths told Rose the rest of the girls she shared a dormitory with were still asleep. Rose, in contrast with Abby, who had woken Rose on such occasions numerous times, was friendly enough to let them all sleep to their heart's content and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Breakfast was a dull affair and Scorpius looked around for something to entertain himself with. Being early, at breakfast, as usual, there weren't many students yet and Scorpius found no one to distract himself with. He sighed and turned back to the boring speech his best friend was telling him.

"Nice Al." Scorpius said when Al finally stopped talking for a moment. "It's perfect."  
Al chuckled. "You really weren't listening, were you?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Am I ever?"

Al frowned, thinking. "When I'm telling you some hot girl has interest in you…" He said, trailing off. "Speaking of hot girls." A pained look had appeared on Al's face.

Scorpius turned around and was met with the pleasant sight of Olivia Applebee, already leaning towards him. Scorpius smirked and kissed her softly on the lips.  
"Good morning sexy." He whispered against them. Olivia smiled and deepened the kiss, gently wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Please, get a room you two." Al said as some toast hit Scorpius on the back of his head. They broke apart and Olivia sat down next to him, so close she was practically on his lap.

"Good morning Scorp. Good morning Al." Olivia said, ignoring the looks she was getting from the teachers (and Al) and helping herself to some toast.

"Good morning, Olivia. How are you?" Al asked politely, if a bit stiff. Scorpius kicked against his leg. Olivia seemed not to notice.

"I'm feeling wonderful." She said happily, nibbling her toast. Al shot Scorpius an exasperated look. Scorpius ignored him and snaked an arm around Olivia's waist, pressing her against himself.

"That's good." He said, planting a kiss on top of her head.

"Please stop. My eyes are bleeding." Said an obnoxious voice dryly from behind Scorpius. He groaned, recognising the voice anywhere.

"Just because you know nought of love, doesn't mean I have to stop expressing it, Weasley." Scorpius said icily, sipping his coffee.

"Please Malfoy. Having a new girlfriend every other week doesn't count as love." Rose Weasley scoffed. She moved into Scorpius' line of vision and sat down next to Al, scowling at Scorpius. Scorpius glared back, and then turned his attention away from her.

Why waste time on the girl? She was obnoxious, irritating, nerdy and snobby. It was bad enough he had to be in a close proximity with her because they were both friends with Al, acknowledging her was one step too many. Scorpius wavered a moment then silently corrected himself. Acknowledging her was one step to many, except to make fun of her. There just was something so satisfying about seeing her getting all irritated and angry.

"Don't listen to her, love." He whispered instead into Olivia's hair. "She's just jealous."

Olivia giggled and, if possible, shuffled over even closer, her long, black hair tickling his cheek when she moved.

"So, I was thinking, instead of making next Hogsmeats weekend a date, I wanted to introduce you to my friends." Olivia started.

~~~~O.0~~~~

After having helped herself to some toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, Rose turned to her cousin, Al, who had been staring into his cup since she had sat down.

"And how are you this lovely morning Al?" She asked, digging into her plate.

Al shrugged. "It was alright, but now I am emotionally damaged." He pouted, and sipped his pumpkin juice.

Rose stifled a laugh. "How come?" She asked innocently.

"I had to witness that vulgarity," he nodded toward Malfoy and Applebee, "And then had to watch a jibe between my two best friends. It's emotionally crippling."  
Rose swung her arm around his shoulders. "Man up, Al. You'll get through it." She said. Al shrugged her arm off.

"I never said I couldn't." He said faking indigence, and then stared at her suspiciously.

"How come you're awake?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

Rose grinned. "I know right? It's so odd. I can actually taste my breakfast now." She took a big bite to empathise her words.

She looked up and down the Griffindor table and saw only a few first- and seconds years.

"It is boring so early though." Rose said, sighing. "What do you normally do this early?"

Al shrugged. "Eat."

Rose took one last bite. "Finished. What next?"

Al shrugged again and took another sip. "Eat some more."

"This is boring." Rose said. Al nodded in agreement.

Rose's eyes widened and she grabbed Al's shoulders. "What if it is something permanent? What if I'll be forced to sit here every morning, slowly dying of boredom?"

"Then I welcome you to my life." Al said dryly. "I wouldn't count on it though. Knowing your sleeping habits."

Rose grinned. "One point for you, Al."  
Al half bowed for her, accepting his point and took another sip of his pumpkin juice.

"You should try sleeping in someday." Rose said after a long silence.  
Al raised his cup in agreement. "I'll try."

~~~~O.0~~~~

"Seriously, how do you stand her?" Al cried while Scorpius and he made their way over to Care of magical creatures.  
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"Who? Rose. She doesn't hold a candle to Olivia Applebee, not even a little bit." Al said defiantly.

"No, she is much worse. We exchanged about three sentances this morning and she still gave me a bloody headache." Scorpius said, shoving the doors out of the castle open. A cold air wafted through the door opening, making the hairs in his neck stand up.

"Well, if you just tried to be a bit nicer…" Al started, but Scorpius shook his head.

"No. It is her who is being unreasonable."

Al sighed. "Maybe. But could you at least try to be civil?"

Scorpius shrugged. The suggestion would maybe carry more weight if Al hadn't proposed it a thousand times already. It had lost any importance after the four hundredth-sixty-seventh time though.

"If she is." He replied, like he always did and casually wrapped his robes tighter around himself.

"Now, back to Applebee." Al said, half running to keep up with Scorpius' big paces. Scorpius groaned.

"Why?" Al exclaimed dramatically.

"What? She's nice." Al snorted, earning a glare from Scorpius.

"The girl is daft, stuck up and shallow." Al said. Scorpius sent him another glare. Al held his hands up. 'What, it's true and you know it. You're only dating her because she is one of the prettiest girls in our year.

Well, Scorpius couldn't help and agree with that. Who was he to turn such a good looking girl away, just because she was a bit slow and shallow? That didn't mean he wasn't going to defend her (and more importantly, his taste in girls) though.

"She is nice. A tad slow, yes. But so are you." Scorpius said.

Al snorted. "She had no common sense." He said under his breath, just loud enough for Scorpius to hear.  
Scorpius rolled his eyes again but choose to be the bigger man and let it go.

"So what do you think Hagrid got for us today?" He asked, changing the subject away from girlfriends, cousins and anything else girl-related.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Rose jumped over three bags lying in her path and sprinted in the direction of the brown haired and godly looking Terrance Wood, her mind set on one thing.

She swung her arms around his neck and tried to bring him down, but he held his ground, staying upright and turning around in one graceful flourish.

"Rosie!" He said happily, giving her a quick peck on the lips. "You aren't trying to injure me? Are you?" He said playfully, wrapping his arms securely around her waist and putting her down on the ground gently. "Because without me, you might stand a chance of beating us." He added with a wink.

Rose laughed and shook her head. Terrance was Quidditch captain of the Ravenclaw team. Rose, being a chaser on the Griffindor team, and him getting together had been the scandal of two months ago, but they had paid it no heat.

They had gotten together after Ravenclaw had beaten Griffindor spectacularly (Griffindor had caught the snitch but Ravenclaw had won on account of their great chasers and spectacular keeper). Terrance and she had walked up to each other to congratulate the other, but instead of shaking hands and saying 'good game.' They had somehow gotten themselves into a heated snogging session, in the middle of the pitch in front of the whole school. This of course only added to the scandal.

"I am not. When I am trying, you'll notice on account of the numerous object flying your way." Rose said, looking deep into his hazel coloured eyes.  
He chuckled. "And hexes, no doubt."

"Of course." Rose said, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "And cousins. I've got waves of cousins, ready to attack.

Terrance chuckled, his beautiful hazel eyes twinkling in amusement, and gently tucked the loos strand of hair behind her ear, tracing her cheekbone. A shiver travelled down Rose's spine at the contact.

Someone tabbed her on her shoulder and when Rose looked, she saw Abby had caught up with her.

"I just came to say good morning. I got to run now." Rose said to Terrance, giving him a last peck on the lips and spinning out of his arms with the intention of joining Abby.

Terrance caught her hand and pulled her back though. Before Rose could do anything, he captured her lips in a passionate kiss that left her stomach fluttering and her head spinning.

Abby cleared her throat loudly and Rose broke away. "See you before supper? I have I free period." She asked breathlessly. Terrance smiled and nodded, releasing her.

"You two are so cute together." Abby squealed once they were a good distance away from him. Rose laughed. "I thought you would have tired from saying that after two months."

Abby shook her head. "Never. Well, unless you two are going to be all gross and over each other all the time." She shivered at the thought.

Rose pretended to think about it. "And here I was thinking that would be a great next step in our relationship." She said in a thoughtful tone.

The book that hit her arm didn't agree with her.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Wednesday didn't agree with Scorpius. It didn't agree with him at all. Besides the hectic schedule of the day, in which he had no free periods and had every next lesson literally on the other side of the castle, he had also been forced to spend the little free time he had remaining in the hospital wing after a minor squabble with, guess who? Yes. The one and only, little prissy perfect Rose.

Scorpius wanted to his his head against something in irritation. Great, now she had invaded his mind too. What there something else she was going to preoccupy? She was already sharing his best mate and all of his classes. She was even there when he played Quidditch.

"Are you okay, mate?" Al asked, looking at Scorpius with a concerned expression.

Scorpius grunted and rubbed his eyes angrily, trying to get rid of his bloody head ache.  
"I'm fine."

"Doesn't sound like it." a new voice said.

Scorpius jumped up and spun around, then blinked to make the world stop spinning. Kevin Xing smiled at him before sitting next to Al in the secluded corner of the common room.

"Have you heard?" he said.

"Well, hello to you too." Al said dryly. Kevin smirked. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I meant, good day to you, my dearest Lady. How are you."

Al scowled, but Scorpius cut him off. "Heard what Kevin?" He asked, sinking back down in his chair, the remnants of a stinging hex still paining his left leg.

Kevin turned to him gleefully. With his long hair and small eyes, Scorpius almost missed the twinkle of victory he had asked before Al could throw a tantrum.

"Youdle is throwing a party in two weeks, she's turning seventeen and she's inviting everyone in our year she doesn't hate."  
Scorpius leaned forward in his chair and watched the irritated expression on Al's face first become red at the mention of Gilly Youdle, then white at the prospect of having to talk to her, and then red again, realising Scorpius was watching him with an all-knowing smirk.

Scorpius caught the pillow he threw at him with ease, and leaned back.

"So that includes us? Even Al?" Al glared at him and threw another pillow. It missed Scorpius by three foot. Scorpius allowed himself to scoff. Great chaser he was.

"Yea. She's only not inviting some Slytherins, and let's face it, who would invite Zabini or Gaunt?" Kevin said.  
"Al would." Scorpius said.  
"No I wouldn't." A protested.

"Come on Al. You're not fooling anyone, we all know you have a thing for Gaunt."

Al scowled and narrowed his eyes dangerously close, glaring at Scorpius.

Kevin laughed. "Couldn't withstand her charm now, could you?"

"I think her smile did it for him." Scorpius replied with a straight face.

Kevin and Scorpius looked at each other with a deadpanned expression for a few moments, before bursting out in laughter.

Kevin was the closest friend Scorpius had besides Al. His personality perfectly fit in with Scorpius' and Al's. Kevin was easygoing and relaxed, and always open for a good conversation about nothing, or girls. Mostly girls.

"I don like Gaunt." Al murmured when Scorpius and Kevin gasped for breath, recovering from their laughter.

They looked at each other and howled again, thinking about the troll like girl, Yisa Gaunt. Her porky skin, covered in achne that looked more like boils than spots and framed by long strings of greasy, sleek hair weren't the thing that kept everyone away from her (except her cousin Zabini, who seemed to be immune to the smell that hung around her every second of the day). No the worst thing about her was her awful smile. The moment her crooked yellow teeth were exposed, and the stink of her breath came free, you didn't help each other escape any more. it was every man for himself.

"Is her party in the holidays?" Al cut their laughter short. "Because I am going home for Christmas. Mum would kill me if I wouldn't."

"Nah. It's Friday evening in two weeks, our first evening of freedom. The train leaves Saturday."

~~.~~

Two days later, Friday evening found Hogwarts in dazed, but happy stupor. A cold snowstorm had struck up in the middle of the day, freezing anyone that dared stick their nose out of the door, but classes had finally finished and students were free to go and stand where they wanted. After a whole day of being forced to freeze in the cold classrooms and being scurried over the school grounds, no one had hesitated to flee to their respective common rooms and huddle before the big fires, roaring in the fireplaces.

Al and Scorpius were sitting in the best comfortable armchairs in front of the fire, trying to warm their hands and unfreeze their noses.

"Monday we could still walk outside without coats." Al sniffled, trying to move his fingers.  
"The good old days." Scorpius said shivering.

"Quidditch practice tomorrow." An awfully cheery voice said suddenly, cutting off Al's response.

Scorpius groaned. There was only one person on the planet who would sound so cheery about such an awful prospect.

"Go away, James." Al said moodily, trying once again to bend his fingers.

James Potter sat down on the arm of Al's chair and sighed content. "The fire is so hot here."

"Don't you have other quidditch players to harass?" Scorpius asked, looking James up and down and noticing to his irritating he didn't seem as frozen as the rest of the population of Hogwarts.

"Nope." James said happily, and inched closer to the fire. The fire almost made his dark brown hair look like the ginger red colour so many of his cousins had.

"Are you sure?" Al asked, pushing James of the arm of his chair. James didn't take offence and inched closer to the fire still.

"Had them all, except our beloved Rosie, but I expect she'll remember as the icky prefect she is." James said, moving his head in that spastic way of his to get his hair out of his face. The first time he had done that in front of Scorpius, he had seriously asked Al if there was something wrong with James. Al had confided in Scorpius he was sure there was, but nothing had been proven yet.

"And Fred? You like Fred. Why don't you go harass Fred?" Al asked, but James was already shaking his head.

"He's studying."

Al and Scorpius exchanged a look and simultaneously took out their books.

"Want to help me with Defence? I don't understand one bit of it." Al asked, taking his essay in front of him. Scorpius threw a look at it, then took out his own essay.

"Me ether, but I got my nine inches."

Al snatched it out of his hand, faster than Scorpius had held possible with his frozen fingers. "I'll take it."

James groaned and stood up. "Buzz kills." He muttered before stomping off. There was nothing better for Scorpius and Al's grades than James Potter.

~~~~O.0~~~~

"I'll see you tomorrow." Rose breathed against Terrance's lips, pulling herself out of his tight embrace. Terrence let go reluctantly and put up big, puppy dog eyes.

"Just five more minutes?" He asked.

Rose smiled and shook her head like the last three times, with the only difference that she meant it this time.

"I have to patrol tonight, and I wanted to stop by the Griffindor tower for a moment."

Terrance sighed. "You never put your hair down, do you?" He asked. Rose pouted and tugged at one, long lock of her hair.  
"Figuratively." Terrance added.

Rose laughed and shook her head. "No." She winked and pulled the tick tapestry that concealed her and Terrance aside. The light outside the hidden passageway made her blink for a moment, and a cold air stroke past her skin.  
Rose shivered and tightened her robes around herself.

"Are we still on for studying, day after tomorrow?" Terrance asked. Rose nodded, blew a kiss at him and left.

The way up to the Griffindor was as long as ever, and Rose cursed the snowstorm that was currently raging outside. Her breath condensed in front of her, making little cobwebs in the air and her fingers grew more numb by the minute.

Did she ever let her hair down? Rose absentmindedly twirled a lock of her hair around her fingers as she thought about it. She didn't that often. The only time she didn't contain herself at all was when she was sitting on a broomstick, but even then she was restrained by rules.

But she didn't have time to let her hair down. She didn't have time to go loose and be wild, like James did every weekend and Al every so often. She had grades to uphold and prefect duties. Her parents expected it of her. Everyone expected it of her. She was the one with the perfect grades, like James was the boisterous one and Hugo was the goofy one.

Rose stumbled through the portrait hole and into the buzzing common room that was filled until the brim with wheezing students, all huddling together and exaggerating the coldness.

She frowned, and let out a long breath. The cobwebs coming from her mouth seemed more profound and whiter.

"James!" She yelled, rubbing her hands together. James, the boisterous one, and Fred, the joking one, were the two biggest pranksters on Hogwarts, and had the most awful sense of humour (That Rose found, to her deep shame, very funny). She recognised their work anywhere, and it was here.

Rose gritted her teeth to stop herself from smiling when she looked around the room though. Everyone was huddling together, trying (and miserably failing) to keep each other warm. The roaring fire in the corner of the common room wasn't even visible anymore because of all the people, trying to get a piece of its warmth.

James came dancing out of the crowd and smirked when he saw Rose hand-wringing.

"Rosie! To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, straightening noticeably to come across more formal. Rose might have laughed, if she wasn't sure if she could stop once she started.

"Just warm up this room, James. I know it was you."

She gestured around the room, where the cold air was more freezing than even outside on the grounds.

James looked at her with an indignant look that wouldn't fool her in a thousand year. He pulled his shoulders back and sniffed.  
"And where do you get this false data, might I ask?"

"James." Rose threatened, lowering her voice and raising her eyebrow.

"I don't control the weather, you see, little Rosie." He continued and messed up her hair. Rose swatted his hand away and glared annoyed. She didn't like being treated as a little child.

"James, warm this room up before it starts snowing in here, or I swear, you won't be Quidditch captain anymore next month."

The best thing was that Rose could actually do that now, and James knew it too. If 'he put one hair out of line' As Ginny so 'creatively' put it, she would take both his badge and his broomstick away.

James did a quick salute. "Yes Ma'am. I'm on it."

Rose felt her freezing cheeks. Her cold hands felt like they were burning against them. "I don't like this cold." She muttered under her breath and pushed past James into the overcrowded common room.

"Don't forget we have Quidditch practice tomorrow." James called after her.

Rose rolled her eyes. Of course she wouldn't forget. He had been yelling that at her for two days straight.

~~~~O.0~~~~

It was Saturday morning, the sun hadn't showed itself yet at such an early hour. The stars were twinkling above their head. Rose looked up to them, wondering how her cousin expected her to stay awake through his boring speech about new trainings. Thankfully, the snow storm from yesterday had stopped somewhere around midnight and the clouds had whifted away. A tick coat of snow adorned the quidditch pitch and a cold wind was caressing them but it was not even half as bad as yesterday.

No one else then James Potter would think it wise to give such a speech before practise in six in the morning.

Saturday morning.

She yawned and widened her drooping eyes. The moon was bright this night. Maybe she should trick Al into telling Trawlany that, just for the heck of it. She loved watching him squirm while Trawlany dramatically pronounced his death, and if she was lucky, also the disturbing cause.

"Did you all get that?" James loud voice bellowed. Rose jumped and hastily tore her eyes away from the sky.

They landed on James, who was standing in front of them like a blacker blur in a black night.

A few murmurs of conformations were heard. Rose just nodded.  
"I said, did you all get that?" James bellowed again.

"Yes captain." Was the general sound of the rumour that rose up from the six players in front of James.  
James nodded satisfied. "Then we can kick off." He said, mounting his broom and kicking off against the snow covered ground, into the cold night air.

"Just kill me now." Rose groaned, before stiffly mounting her own broom with her frozen limbs.

"Slow and painfully or quick and silent?" Al asked from her right, already hovering three feet in the air. Rose rubbed her eyes.

"I don't care, just safe me from this agony."

It had never been this hard to stay on her broom without falling off. despite the cold night air her eyes kept drooping and the sleep refused to leave her.

A big red ball suddenly doomed up from the darkness and Rose only caught it by pure reflexes.

"Pay attention, Rose!" James bellowed at her. Rose focused her eyes on the figure she was almost certain had said that.

"James, I can't see anything and I am tired. This practise isn't going to improve our Quidditch skills." Rose said back, throwing the quaffle at the head of the person she hoped was James with as much force as she could muster.

"Nice throw, Rose!" The keeper of the Griffindor team and the little brother of her current boyfriend, John Wood said. So it hadn't been James at all. Too bad. John might have been able to catch it, she was sure it would have hit James' head if it had been him.

"That doesn't sound like you can't see or are tired. Stop complaining and continue training!" James bellowed.

Three hours and a sunrise later, Rose was finally able to make out the faces of her fellow teammates. They looked a lot more awake then she felt.  
Rose tightened her grip on her broom, feeling her sway again.

"Come together for a moment, team!" James bellowed, beckoning them. Rose sighed and flew over to him, bracing herself for whatever speech he had prepared now.

Hovering fifteen feet in the air was apparently, according to James, the perfect place to start talking about a new practise schedule. Rose yawned again an let him talk, looking around the little circle of seven.

To her right hovered her fellow chaser and loved cousin, Al. He was looking at something with a pained expression. Rose followed his line of vision and came out on James, who was now waving his hands around wildly and demanding they train five times a week. James was the last chaser, team captain and an absolute Quidditch nut.

He still hadn't completely digested they had lost the first Quidditch mach of the year from Ravenclaw, and was determent to win the second one, against Slytherin.  
Rose was positive he was going to play professional at least for a few years after he finnished Hogwarts.

James was flanked by two bulky boys. Darren Barbary and Kelvin Hilliard were the Beaters. Both huge, muscly and as broad as they were tall, they were the perfect beaters build.

Then you had the keeper. Rose eyes flicked to John Wood. He was an incredible keeper. Not yet as good as his brother, but he would get to that point. In fact, if he would keep improving like he had, he would maybe even surpass Terrance.

And last and least, that left the seeker.  
Rose looked at Malfoy for a moment before diverting her eyes. He had the wrong build for seeker. He was too broad and not skinny enough. Al, Al was the perfect build for seeker, but oh no. The git just had to get the most exciting spot on the team.

Rose rubbed her eyes again and lifted her eyes to James against her will, willing herself to pay attention to the last part of his speech.  
Apparently the speech had already stopped and he was now ranting because no one had paid attention.

Rose found it surprising he was surprised about that.

_~~.~~_

_Hope you liked it. Review please◔_◔_


	3. Pranks and nastier things

The first rays of sunshine tenderly peeked over the peeks of the forbidden forest, shedding a soft winters light over the frozen grounds, when James finally let them go.

As punishment for their complaining and not paying attention to his long rants and boring speeches, he had deemed it necessary to make them run three laps around the pitch, polish all the school brooms (Rose knew he had to do that for detention, the sneaky, selfish little twat) and do a combination of pointless exercises before finally letting them go.

Rose felt her damp hair slowly freeze when she was finally walking back to the castle, driven by the thought of food. She regretted taking a shower after practice. She could have waited until she in her dormitories and take a shower, but no. She just had to be stubborn and shower directly after practice, leaving her hair dripping wet and exposed to the elements.

She had hoped the shower would do the job the cold hadn't and wake her up. It hadn't worked.

She wrapped her robes tighter around herself, checked if there were any icicles hanging off her nose and tightened her grip on her broomstick.

"Why Weasley, pleasure seeing you here." Rose heard behind her. Her eyes closed for a moment as she said a quick prayer to no one in particular before turning around.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" She asked, feeling her temper rise at the mere sight of his obnoxious smirk, and quickly squashed it. How her cousin could bear to be friend with the git was beyond her.

He raised one eyebrow and his smirk became more pronounced.

"Just came to say hi."  
Rose planted her broomstick on the ground and sleepily leaned on it. "Why?"

His smirk grew and he came a bit closer. "I just wanted to share a rather particular event I experienced today with you."

Rose kept her face neutral and arched an eyebrow in mute question.

"You see, when I woke up this morning, expecting it to be a day like any other, I experienced a rather nasty shock."

"Is that so?" Rose asked dryly. "What happened, looked in the mirror?"

"I did, but that did not shock me."

"The other thing must have been terrible if it took your mind of that horrid experiance than."

Finally his smirk wavered and a look of annoyance came over his face.

"It was. Someone charmed all my clothes not just pink, no. Pink with purple and orange. I couldn't charm it back."

Rose smiled sympathetically. "What a shame. Those colours clash terribly."

"And do you have any idea who could have done such a thing?" He asked, his lips perched.

Rose shrugged and leaned her head against her broom. "No idea Malfoy. I am sorry to hear it though. I advice not to fall asleep in the common room in the future."

Malfoy's smirk came back and he let out a good natured laugh that sounded about as fake as Rose's innocent act was.

"I will get you back for this. I had to lend Al's clothes." He said, and continued walking again.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Malfoy." Rose said and smiled to herself.

He had dipped her hair in ink two days ago, because she might or might not have thrown a book at him, and might or might not have hit his head with it, resulting in him visiting the hospital wing. The ink had been worse, she hadn't been able to get it out so she had been forces to cut it. This was her revenge, and it tasted sweet.

That was, until Malfoy kicked against her broom, making her fall.

Rose let out a strangled yell as her face made contact with the frozen ground in a more intimate fashion she liked, Malfoy's laughter ringing in her ears.

~~.~~  
Rose stomped into the entrance hall and angrily glared at a portrait who dared comment on the amount of mud she was trailing behind her.

She stomped further into the castle muttering profanities under her breath, cursing the cold weather, everyone who had irritated her today and shivering all the way.

"Rose!"

Rose looked up and saw Abby standing by the broom closet Rose always put her broom.

"Hi Abby." Rose said, immediately regaining control over her temper and smiling as she put her broom away.

"Why are ya covered in mud?" Abby asked, trailing behind me.  
"I thought you always showered in the changing room."

Rose dragged her hand through her defrosting hair and scowled.

"Malfoy." She said hatefully.

Abby smiled sympathetically.  
"You aren't going to let this go, are you?"

Rose smiled and straightened herself up to her not so formidable height of five foot four.  
"Never." She said, one hand on her heart.

Abby laughed and hooked her arm through Rose's.

"How does breakfast sound? You can shower after, but I will not allow you to let me sit all alone."

"I don't have the impression I have a choice" Rose said, allowing Abby to drag her away.

~~.~~

It was midday before Rose was properly dry and warm again. She sat snugly huddled in an armchair by the fire with a book on lap, half listening to Abby and half staring into space.

"And I told her, who do you think you are? And she told me she was his boyfriend." Abby burst out laughing at the memory and Rose managed a weak smile.

"So, long story short, Duncan Heybole is single again." Abby concluded, huddling closer to the fire to warm her hands.

"What a git, flirting with you while having a girlfriend." Rose commented.

Abby nodded fervently. "I just wanted to-" She wrong her hands together like she was snapping someones neck.

"But I'm over it now."

Rose laughed and nodded. "That's good." Abby was never one to hold grudges, unlike Rose herself. It was something Rose always admired about her. That and her carefree look on life were the things Rose admired and envied Abby the most for.

Suddenly, Abby burst out in giggles, biting down on her hand in a poor attempt to conceal it like she always did.

Rose frowned and looked around. She immediately knew what was making Abby die from laughter. It wasn't hard to spot. It seemed Al's pity on Scorpius had ended, because Scorpius was standing there as living protest against fashion.

Rose would deny any part in it.

When he saw Rose looking, he scowled and turned his back to her, granting her view of the back of his outfit.  
Rose knew there was a very good chance she was going to die within a next week.

Rose turned back to Abby, laughing quietly.

"Do I even want to know?" Abby asked. Rose smirked.

"If I die this week, it will have been worth it."

Abby stretched and patted me on the back. "I will miss you." She said with a deadpanned expression on her face before smiling again. "I call your broom and all the homework you have finished by than and not yet turned in."

"How very sensitive from you." Rose said dryly.

"I know." Abby said, throwing back her hair.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Scorpius felt his cheeks heat up as Al dragged him around the castle.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Scorpius groaned. "On a Saturday when we are supposed to be relaxing?"  
Al shoved Scorpius into the great hall and dragged him to the Griffindor table, which was almost completely packed with people eating lunch. He felt every-one's eyes on him. He heard several people snicker.

He perched his lips and sat down next to Al, back straight and nose in the air, taking no note of those around him.

"You talked back to James. My body's still on fire from his wrath." Al said sourly, stacking his plate with sandwiches.

"That says more about your shape than the practice." Scorpius said, taking some sandwiches too and glaring at anyone who was looking at him too openly.

"And I am sure Rose had a good reason."

"She had not!" Scorpius protested.

Al gave him a 'whatever you say' look and began stuffing his face with food. Scorpius averted his eyes and preyed the vision would ever vanish from his mind. Al normally ate like a proper human being, but after quidditch practice he was either too hungry to suppress the weasley-eat-like-a-beast impulse, or he was too tired to do that.

"You know, I think I actually hate your cousin. Full out hate her." Scorpius muttered.

~~~~O.0~~~~

On Monday, Rose was disappointed to see that Malfoy had gotten the spell off his clothes one way or the other.

Even though she acted it cool every hour that passed by the pit in her stomach grew. There was no way, Malfoy would have forgiven her for the two wonderful days of him looking around the school, looking like a clown.

The sickly sweet smiles he send her confirmed it.

When Rose skipped supper and hid in the library instead, Abby had enough if it.

"Rose Ginevra Weasley!" She yelled, and was immediately shushed by the librarian, Mrs Beetle, who ironically enough resembled a beetle.

"You also skipped lunch! You are going to starve yourself if you keep this up! Why are you hiding?" It hit Rose for the first time how much Abby had changed from the small girl that had nervously asked Al and her to sit with them on their first day of Hogwarts.

Abby had changed into a confidant girl who knew exactly what she wanted and did anything to get it.

"I'm in hiding." Rose whispered jokingly, peeking over a transfiguration book. "Don't let him find me."

Abby smiled at her antics but firmly took the book from her. "Rose, you are coming to dinner. I am there with you, the teachers are there. Nothing can happen to you."

The point was, Rose had enough experience in this to know that wasn't true. In the five previous years, Rose had learned what true anxiety, pain and fear was. Knowing that there was a hospital wing nearby apparently meant that injuries were allowed. They drew the line at heavy injuries, but Rose did not aspire to spend the night in the hospital wing, puking her stomach out, nursing a broken arm or trying to stop a bleeding cut to stop bleeding.

Of course, he could just embarrass her too, but she didn't look forward to being the talk of the school for the rest of the week either.

So she preferred hiding.

"I'm fine here, Abby. You go without me."

Abby sat down in front of Rose and stared at Rose with a serious face. "Rose, I know you don't like being the centre of attention."

"Understatement of the year."

"But you can't hide away just because of that. Gilly hasn't seen you in days and neither had Rosalia. They come to me because they can't find you. You're always busy with classes, your broom closet visits with Terrance, quidditch practice and the library. They miss you. The only reason why I'm here is because I am about as stubborn as you are and I refuse to let you shake me off. "

Rose looked down at her hands while Abby spoke, realising only now how little she had seen of her other friends, and despising herself for it.

She sighed and stood up. "I really hate you sometimes, do you know that?" Rose asked.

Abby stood up too and smiled. "I know. Let's go. And we are sitting with Gilly and Rosalia."

~~~~O.0~~~~

It wasn't until Tuesday evening that Scorpius finally set his master plan into motion. He liked to make Weasley sweat a little bit before getting back at her for whatever she had done to him.

So Tuesday during quidditch practice, Rose strangely fell off her broom when they made their customary lap around the great lake.

Scorpius had heard a dip in the lake this late in the year wasn't a pleasant thing.  
Maybe Rose could tell him if that was true.

~~~~O.0~~~~

When Al clambered through the portrait hole, he was met with a chose he ad been forced to make a hundred times before.

On the right of the common room by the big, roaring fire sat a sniffling Rose with a blanket drawn around her, talking with Abby, Gilly Youdle and Rosalia Treeborn. The three friend of Rose were occasionally shooting dirty glances over to the other side of the common room, where Scorpius was lounging, laughing with two of their roommates, Kevin Xing and Ben Kaarings.

And Al was forced to choose between concoling his cousin, choosing her side, or concratulating (Or at least greating) his best friend, choosing his side.

Again.

He hovered between them for as long as possible and shot them both begging looks, bit neither of them noticed. Only Gilly saw him standing there and sent him a reassuring smile.

His stomach did a back flip at the sight of her.

That settled it. He was going to Rose. He would not have Gilly shooting dirty looks at him, like she was shooting at Scorpius and the others right now.

"Are you okay, Rose?" He asked when he reached her.

Rose was shivering and her skin looked dangerously blue. She put up a reassuring smile and nodded. "I'm fire." She sniveled.

Al arched an eyebrow. That might work on about every other family member they had, but not on him. He knew Rose well enough to know she was always trying to please everyone.

"And now the truth."

"I feel like I am still in the lake, so cold."

Abby and Rosalia inched closer to her and started cowing over her.

"Did she go to the hospital wing?" Gilly quietly asked.

Al shook his head. "She's too stubborn. Doesn't like the hospital wing."

Gilly sighed and wraped her elegant hands around his arm nervously. Al stared at them, then snapped out of it and returned his attention to his shivering cousin.

"I know. She will be okay though, won't she? I think she had a temperature."

Al nodded seriously. "Of course she will, and else we just drag her to the hospital wing, won't we?"  
Gilly grinned and nodded.

"I'm going to bed 'night." Rose yawned, shrugging off all the attention she was getting from her two friends.

Al saw the rest of the Griffindor team enter the common room, all freshly washed.

He smiled at his cousin and stepped aside. "Sweet dreams." He said as she passed him and slowly made her ways up the stairs to the girl dormitories, fleeing from all the attention she was sure to get down here.

Some people didn't believe that there existed people that didn't like attention. They believed there were only people who loved attention, people who liked it and people who were indifferent to it.

These people did not know Rose.

He loved it about her. after growing up around James and Lily, who both love attention, it was refreshing having someone around who was the complete opposite.

"Al! Where's Rose? Is she okay?" James shouted through the common room, demanding every-one's attention and proving Al right.

The fond smile that had appeared around Al's mouth when Rose went upstairs disappeared and James made his way to him.

"She's okay. She went to bed." Al said.

"I should go check up on her." Abby muttered and disappeared upstairs too.

"So no harm done? How she fell is beyond me." James said, still loud enough for the whole common room to hear. Al resisted the urge to roll his eyes and nodded.

"No harm done." He agreed and looked at Scorpius.

He was disappointed to see no guilt on his face.

James rolled his shoulders and sighed. "I think I am going to start on my charms essay. Bye dear brother."  
Al nodded absentmindedly until the meaning of his words hit him. He gaped. "You're... going to.. study?" Al asked dumbstruck.

James smirked. "Gotcha." He said, before disappearing off, probably looking for someone to play exploding snap with, or something other braincell-killing activity.

"You know Al, you are very unlike your brother." Rosalia Treeborn said in her serious voice.

Al frowned and sat down on the unoccupied couch.

"What do you mean?" He was usually told the depressing fact that he and James were quite alike. But then again, most people didn't look much further than their looks and family.

"She's right. James is like fireworks while you are more quiet." Gilly said, sitting down too.

Al smiled. "O really, like what?"

Gilly thought for a moment, biting her lip in the most adorable way possible. "More like a grate-fire. Quiet, warm and caring." Gilly said, looking into the fire roaring only a few passes away Al saw that her cheeks turned slightly red.

"I never knew grate-fires were caring." Al said in a thoughtful voice, seriously thinking about it.

Gilly burst out laughing, and Rosalia smirked at Al.

~~~~O.0~~~~

"So I saw you talking with Gilly last night." Scorpius said, waggling his eyes when Al took his place next to him in Herbology.  
Scorpius loved having Herbology in the heated green houses, in the winter. It was possible to expose your hands to the air, and not have them frozen off.

Al nodded, smiling fondly.  
Scorpius clapped him on the back. "Talking is the first step you know. Once you stop running away once you see her, you have a chance."

Al scowled. "I've talked to her before. And I don't run away, it's more..." He paused, looking for the right term.

"A dignified waggle?" Scorpius supplied. Al shook his head, looking appealed at the thought. "I don't waggle."

"A hurried walk?" Scorpius tried again, this time more serious.

Al nodded and sighed. "I really am pathetic sometimes, aren't I?"

Scorpius shook his head, and threw his arm over Al's shoulder good naturedly.

"Nah, mate. You're just caring. It's a good thing."

"You think so?"

Scorpius nodded. "Now stop talking like that before you transform into a girl. that has happened before, you know."  
Al laughed and took out his books.

"I know you were the one who did it by the way." Al said when professor Longbottom finally called for silence.

"Did what?" Scorpius whispered, having a good idea where Al was talking about.

"You threw Rose into the lake. She knows too."

Scorpius glanced over to the redhead, a few work tables away. Her hair was frizzing, something it usually didn't do, and she looked very pale. He felt a somewhat self-satisfied smirk firmly set itself around his mouth. "I think everyone knows."

"James doesn't."

"James is a git."

Al chuckled and nodded, returning his attention to the professor.  
Sighing, Scorpius did the same thing, stealing glances at Weasley from time to time.

~~~~O.0~~~~  
Her head was steadily pounding on the rhythm of her heart. Slowly, Rose followed the stream of students exiting the Herbology greenhouse. Rosalia was trailing behind her, still emanating concern.

She sniffled and hoisted her backpack over her shoulder. "Interesting lesson, right?" Rosalia asked, sounding far more happy than she normally did.

Rose sighed and turned around, fed up by Rosalia's oddly warm behaviour the whole day, and stalling a bit before she had to leave the warm greenhouse.

"Please Lia, stop being like this." Rose sniveled perked.  
Rosalia raised an eyebrow in that self assured way only she could pull off, and waited for Rose to elaborate.

"You know, you being all careful around me because you think I'm sick." Rose sneezed and Rosalia's eyebrows shot up further, remaining sceptically silent. Rose fumbled under her gaze. Something about Rosalia's eyes always made her feel like a little child, caught sneaking sweets to her room.

"You know. You're not usually like... this." She gestured to Rosalia.

It was the nicest way Rose could convey what she meant. Rosalia wasn't really a happy person, and she was being all cheery around Rose. It irritated her to no end. She didn't like it when people acted different just because she was around. She loathed it, actually.

"Just be yourself." Rose said.

A smile broke out over Rosalia's lips and she swung an arm around Rose's shoulders. Rose stumbled a bit.

"Don't worry Rosie. I get you."

"You feel me?" Rose asked dead serious. It must have been Rosalia's most stupid saying.

Rosalia swatted Rose on the arm. "I feel ya." She said, and pulled Rose with her over the grounds and to the castle.

~~~~O.0~~~~

"Who's owl is that?" Scorpius said surprised, looking up from his potatoes and pork. An owl was soaring over the four tables in the middle of dinner.

Al swallowed. Scorpius looked at him and saw the last drop of his blood drain from his face. "Mum's." He said, looking at it with big eyes.

"What did you do?" Kevin Xing asked, looking from the owl to Al.

"Nothing." Al murmured, slowly sliding under the table.

"It's probably for James."

"No it isn't." Al's voice came from under the table.

Scorpius chuckled and waved the owl over. He wondered what Al could have possibly done to upset his mother. He hadn't gotten himself landed in detention for months.

When he had untied the letter, a hand shot out from under the table and snatched the letter. Scorpius chuckled and continued eating.

"So how is it going with you and Applebee?" Kevin asked, ignoring the noises Al was making under the table. Sometimes, Scorpius really worried for his best friend's sanity.  
But he was willingly Al's best friend, so maybe he should question his own sanity as well.

"I'm going to break up with her." Scorpius said casually between bites.

"Finally!" Al said from under the table.

"Why?" Kevin asked unsurprised.

΅She has no contents."

She bored him to no end, but he had strung her along a bit longer than usual. She was just too pretty, and a far too good kisser for her own good. He was even willing to meet her friend.  
He cared for her, in his own, weird way.

But yesterday she had told him she loved him. He wasn't going to string someone along when they had that sort of feeling. He wasn't cruel.

"Mind if I ask her out?" Kevin asked.

Scorpius arched an eyebrow. He hadn't known Kevin had a thing for Olivia.

"Of course not."

"Thanks mate." Kevin said with a big grin.

Al crawled out from under the table, earning some weird stares.

"I'm going to the common room. Are you coming?"

Scorpius yawned and looked down at his plate and pushed it away. He moved to follow Al, but then his eyes landed upon the Ravenclaw table.

"I have to do something first, I'll be up in a minute." He said, catching the eye of his pretty, olive skinned girlfriend.

~~.~~

A few minutes later, he was standing outside in the entrance hall, leaning casually against the wall, facing Olivia.

"So, what did you wanted to talk about?" Olivia asked, a dull curiousety in her eyes.

Scorpius swept his hair out of his eyes and sighed deep. "Olivia, you know I really like you, right?"

Olivia's eyes widened, knowing what he was getting on.  
Scorpius really gave her too little credit. She wasn't as dull and... well... stupid, as everyone thought she was.  
Or maybe he just her to be that, and read wrongly into things because of it.

"What are you saying?" She asked quietly.

"Olivia, I can't be with you anymore." He said bluntly. There was no use sugar coating his words.

He watched tears well up his her eyes and took her hand in his hands. She didn't pull away. She only looked down, tears silently streaming over her cheeks.

"Why?" She asked in a shaking voice.

"I.. Look, Olivia. It really isn't you. It's just that we are in different levels in this relationship. You are further into it, and I would just be leading you on if I continued seeing you."

Olivia brushed her tears away.

"I don't mind. You just need time. We can make it work." She said in a small voice, but Scorpius put a finger over her lips.

"Olivia, it would be the wrong thing to do. it would be bad for both you and me."

She sighed. "You might... I think you are right."

Scorpius hugged her, and she collapsed against him, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I know. You can hate me if you want." He whispered softly in her ears.

They stood there for a long time, not paying attention to anyone who came out the great hall and threw them questioning glances, if they saw them at all.

"I couldn't hate you." Olivia said eventually, pulling away from him. "You're just being honest with me."

Scorpius smiled sadly at her. "See you around?" He asked.

Olivia nodded nervously and walked away.

~~.~~

A few minutes later, Scorpius got the shock of his life. It was worse than finding his clothes pink, or his hair blue, or his room in ruins.

Al was studying, on his own accord.

Scorpius ran to the window and looked outside.

"No pigs flying." he muttered under his breath. "hell might be frozen over though, judging from the cold."

"You know," Al said, "Talking to one self is the first sign of madness."

Scorpius faced his friend. "Well, I must be mad. I am seeing things. You, studdying without me or someone else forcing you to."

Al, situationed behind a fort of books, ruffled his hair.

"Mum's threathening to withdraw Hogsmeat premission form if I don't get accepted in advanced potions soon." Al said, eyeing the books in dispair.

"That would be a shame, think of all the dates with all the pretty girls you woukd miss." Scorpius mused, sitting down comfortably and picking one of Al's book.

It was _a standard guide to potion making_.

"What do you need this for? This is first years matirial." Scorpius said, holding the book up.

Al flushed and snatched the book out of Scorpius' hands. "It's not my fault I got my dad's potion making skill." He muttered.

"Didn't it turn out he was actuallt pretty decent at it? You have to be able to make a lot of potions if you are an Auror." Scorpius mused, watching the emberresment on his friends face grow with amusement.

"He is not." Al muttered, beginning to scann throught a standerd guide to potion making.

"I think your talent is all you, but why don't you just drop the subject? You've got enough subjects."

Al sighed. "Because I wanted to be a healer."

"Wanted?" Scorpius asked, noticing the past tense.

"I'm not sure anymore. When I told mum she.. well, she wasn't pleased." Al gestured to the letter.

Scorpius nodded, knowing what it was like to be pressiored into things by others expectations. "Al, you should just do whatever makes you happy, not what makkes others happy." Scorpius said.

Al bit his lip and looked at the pile of books. "I will." He said.

"Bit it can't hurt to try potions, right? It could be that I change my mind again and I do want to be a healer again."

"Why don't you want to be a healer anymore in the first place?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't know what I want, Scorpius. I have no clue." Al sighed. He looked at the pile of books again and dutifully picked up the next book, readdy to skim it over.

Scorpius looked from the pile of books to Al and realised that, even though Al never cared what others thought of him, it still affected him. Because of everybody laying their expectations of him on him, he didn't know anymore what he wanted to do for himself, and what he did for others.  
Scorpius had trouble with that as well, sometimes. It was hard, being the offspring of notable individuals.

Scorpius took out his own potions homework and started working on it, helping Al from time to time.

He would help Al figure out what he wanted to do. He owed it to the boy. Al had done so much for him over the years.

~~.~~

2 things:

1. I am so incredible sorry for the long wait.

2. If you liked it, or didn't like it, or thought anything at all while reading it, please review:)


	4. Fights and Preparations

"_Never_!" Rosalia said in haughty disdain, looking at a bright pink dress in pure revolution.  
Rose laughed and sniffled a bit.

"But Lia..." Abby whined, holding the dress up with a big smile, trying to convince Rosalia it was the perfect dress for a simple study-date.

"It burns my eyes." Rosalia said, looking away.

"Gilly! Help." Abby said. Gilly's head snapped up as she snapped out of her daydream. She blinked several time, taking in the bright colour, then giggled.

"He would just love you in that dress, Lia." She said, waggling her eyebrows.

Rose sipped her hot choclate milk and wrapped the covers tighter around her, content to watch the ridiculous situation in front of her.  
She wondered how four girls as different as them could be friends.

"I refuse!" Rosalia yelled, glaring at Abby.

Abby pouted, but lay the dress down. "But you can't wear your uniform either, else he thinks you really do want to study."

Rosalia eyed Abby wearily, then turned to Gilly. "What do you think I should wear Gilly?"

Gilly smiled, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Wait up." She said, and began rummaging in her trunk.  
A few moments later she emerged with a cute, yellow dress.

"No." Rosalia said definitely. "Is that a _ribbon_? No, not even if it would stop the end of the world."

Gilly looked it over. "I wore this two weeks ago..." She said slowly.

"I didn't like it then either." Rosalia said. Gilly sent a quick glare in Rosalia's direction but didn't take any real offence. They all knew better than to take Rosalia's words too serious.

Rose sneezed and took another sip of her hot choco.

"Rose, what do you think?" Rosalia said, remembering she was also in the room.

"I think you should avoid taking a swim in the lake." Rose said, wiping her nose. Rosalia gave her a look.  
"Just don't listen to those two and you'll be fine. they're just looking for an excuse to get you all dressed up in cute, colourfull clothes."

Abby scowled at Rose and Gilly muttered "Tell-tale." Under her breath, looking from the dress in her head to Rosalia obvious disappointment.

"Hadn't noticed." Rosalia said sarcastically. "But Rose, this is Thomas we are talking about."

She straightened her back, only by talking about him and her eyes were steely determination.

Rose sighed and crawled out from under her covers. She slumped down by Rosalia's own trunk and started looking for what she was looking for. "Thomas is the one she has been making goo goo eyes at for weeks, right?' Rose asked.

"Exactly." Gilly giggled, while Rosalia said "I do not make goo goo eyes." Icily.

Rose smirked to herself before throwing slim cut jeans and a baggy T-shirt that always fitted perfect around her slim figure at Rosalia's head. "Here."

"But she can't wear black!" Abby said wide-eyed.

"Abby, let it go." Rose said, crawling back to her bed.

"How late did you say you and Thomas are supposed to meet up?" Gilly asked.

"Around Eight."

"Than you have to hurry up, or you're going to be late."  
Rosalia looked at her watch and cursed. "Why didn't anyone warn me?" She asked coldly before disappearing in the bathroom.

Rose watched her go with a fond smile. It was no mystery to her why many people found Rosalia a complete and utter bitch. She thought back to the time when she had thought she same thing.

"I think I'm going to head to the library to install myself." Abby said, grabbing some books.  
"You're going to spy on Rosalia?" Gilly asked amused. Abby smiled mysteriously. "Maybe. Maybe not. You two know nothing." She smirked and looked at the time.

"Want to come with? I'm studying..." She looked down on the book she was holding and scowled. "Potions? ugh, I hate potions."

Rose giggled that transformed into a coughing fit.

"I think I will only betray you with my cold." Rose managed.

"I just don't want to be killed, but you have fun." Gilly said. "I don't even take potions anymore."

Abby smiled broadly. "I will." And she barged out of the room.

"So, Gil. Almost Seventeen. Excited for your party?" Rose said to avoid an awkward silence.

Gilly giggled and nodded. "Yeah. Guess what I want the theme to be?"

"You're having a themed party?" Rose asked.

"Christmas!" Gilly squealed, ignoring Rose's replay. "It's going to be so cute."

Rose chuckled and began coughing again. "That sounds delightful."

"And so romantic." Gilly looked dreamy again, and Rose wondered if she was thinking about her cousin.  
"It sounds like a lot of work." Rose said.

Gilly shot up. "It is." She said thoughtfully. Rose sat up too.

"Can you help me Rosie? Please. You're always such a great help. And it will be so fun with you there!"  
Rose hesitated. "I don't know Gilly. I'm really busy with Quidditch and..." She trailed off.  
Gilly stuck out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Alright." Rose sighed.

Gilly clapped in her hands out of pure delight. "It's going to be so much fun.

~~~~O.0~~~~

It was late in the evening and Scorpius had gone off to bed several minutes before, leaving Al all alone in the common room with his studies. The portrait hole opened and one of the persons al didn't want to see came in.

"So where is Rose?"

Al growled in response. What was it with people neglecting to greet him these days? It was rude.

"How would I know, James?" Al asked irritated, not looking up from his book.

The book was snatched away by James. "Just asked. Geesh, what is up with you today?" James said, swatting Al over the head.

Al felt something wet drip down his head and down his neck.

"What is it?" Al asked horrified, not moving a muscle.

"It isn't smile from a snail." James said laughing.  
He clapped Al on the back, sending Al head-first into the table. "I'm heading off now. Quidditch practice tomorrow, don't forget."

Al growled in response.

~~~~O.0~~~~

The library was deliciously quiet and stuffy. Somehow, the bookish atmosphere appealed to Rose. She usually came here either to escape the hectic life of Hogwarts when it became a little too much for her, or just to think.

After spending her entire early afternoon catching up with her homework, Rose was finally free to do what she wanted.

Sitting in the back of the enormous room, Rose could stay there for a whole day without being disturbed. Something impossible in the common room, where there was always some loose cousin to come and bother you, or a friend that needed attention.

She was doodling absentmindedly on a piece of parchment, thinking of ways to get back at Scorpius. She preferred the plans with a lot of mangling. She rubbed her nose.

She had somewhat healed from her cold, but her throat and nose were still sore and she still spontaneously burst out coughing, but the worst was over.

Irritating git. Throwing her into the lake.

It was fucking winter. Almost Christmas.

After twenty minutes of not coming up with anything new, Rose stretched and looked around. She stood up and walked toward the high bookshelf, looking around for an eye catching book.

_Never judge a book by it's cover._ Her mother's words rang through her head. Rose sighed and picked out the book that caught her attention and stroked the red spine. She didn't judge a book by it's cover, but she did pick one by it, and she chose to read it by it. Did that make her shallow? mostly, she didn't even do it consciously. What if she did that with people too? She didn't want to be a prejudging person.

She put the red book back, and picked out a grey, worn book out. It didn't even have a title anymore, the letters rubbed away.

Settling back in the chair, she started reading. The pages were yellowed and the ink was a little splatched. She began reading a story about Guns and Roses.

"Rosie!" Abby yelled somewhere in the library. Rose looked up from her book in surprise, but saw no one.  
She tried to hide behind her book, not in the mood to see Abby.

A finger curled over the edge of her book, pulling it down. Rose looked up guiltily. Abby was frowning at her.  
"Why are you wasting your sunday here? What are you even doing?" She asked, looking stern.

"Reading." Rose said, holding her book up.

"I thought you and Terrance were going to study today, seeing as you blew me off for that." Abby accused.

Rose eyes widened. "Oh Merlin." Rose said, jumping up. "I totally forgot. What time is it?"

"You _forgot_?" Abby asked skeptically.  
"Yes!" Cried Rose, quickly putting the book away and rushed to put her stuff away. "What time is it?" She insisted.

"Five 'o clock."

Rose started murmuring frantically and cursing inside her head.

"You seriously forgot? How long have you even been here?"

"Yeah." Rose muttered, her cheeks growing warm. "I' ve got to run, I was supposed to meet him half an hour ago." And Rose rushed away.

"You're welcome!"Abby yelled after her.

"Thanks." Rose said back over her shoulder, but she wasn't sure Abby heard.

How could she have forgotten? She never forgot anything, literally. It was quite irritating, but useful all the same. It was very unsettling to realise her memory wasn't fault proof.

Her backpack was slowing her down considerably and by the time she finally arrived by the abandoned classroom she and terrance always met, she was out of breath.

She slowly caught her breath, leaning against the door and blinked away black spots.  
But when she opened the door, the classroom was empty.

Rose's heart fell.

~~.~~

How'd it go yesterday?" Rose asked, sitting down next to Rosalia in the common room. Rosalia's face contorted. "I will never look at him the same."

Rose giggled. "That bad?" She asked.

"He asked how me and Andy broke up." Rosalia asked, glaring at the ceiling. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I didn't like him that much anyway."

Rose grabbed Rosalia's hand in support. "Beginners mistake."

Rosalia nodded and grimaced. "He wanted to be all feeling-y and sensitive."

"What an idiot." Rose said in disbelief.  
Rosalia looked at Rose for a moment, before bursting out laughing. Rose joined her.

"So Thomas is off the list?"

"For ever and ever. Sensitive ain't my thing."

Rose stretched and sat back.

"Why are you here? Don't see you 'round the common room that often lately."

It was Rose's turn to grimace. "I accidentally blew Terrance off. I'm going to apologise at supper, so I'm waiting until it's time."

Rosalia smirked. "Accidentally?"

Rose perched her lips, and her eyes flashed. "Rosalia, don't bring up that theory of yours that Terrance isn't good for me and stuff again. I already know it by heart" Rose said.

"He isn't." Rosalia said. Rose narrowed her eyes, daring her to go on. Rosalia smirked. She was never one to back down from a challange. "It started from the day you two hooked up. He kissed you right in front of everyone. He forced you to react to that in front of a crowd. You were the talk of the school for weeks. He's done that kind of things every step of your relationship."

Rose waved her hand, still glaring at her. "He just tried to get me out of my shell."

"Say what you will." Rosalia said.

Rose frowned and tried to keep the words inside, but her anger took briefly over. "Andy asked how you were. He looked good." She said venomously.

Rosalia's eyes flashed and she forcefully stood up. She looked at Rose for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before stalking upstairs.

Rose watched her go, trying to bottle up her anger and push it away. She shouldn't have said that about Andy. Andy was Rosalia's ex-boyfriend. They had been that copple everyone thought of as the match made in heaven. When they broke up, Rosalia never told anyone why.

All Rose knew was that Rosalia got in the foulest mood possible when anyone ever mentioned Andy, and she avoided him as the plage.

Rose let out a deep breath, and stood up.

She would wait in the great hall.

~~.~~

"Rose, there you are! I've been looking for you for ages. Are you feeling better?" James yelled in Rose's ear, catching up with her in a corridor.  
Rose rubbed her ear and nodded. "Yes, Thank you so ever much for asking." She said sarcastically.

"No problem. I scheduled an extra quidditch practice tomorrow afternoon, because our last one was cut short. Plus, you didn't show yesterday. The match against Slytherin is in a month!"

"James, why don't we have regular quidditch practice, like the rest of the houses?" Rose asked irritated. The date and time varied every week. One of James more impractical ideas.

"Rosie, Rosie, Rosie." James said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Then we can only have up to three practices a week. Now we can have as many as we want." James smirked at his own good thinking. "And with we, I mean I. So quidditch practice tomorrow?"

Rose opened her mouth to reply but James hugged her before she could get a word out. "Thanks cuz. I knew you could make it"

Rose watched him run off too. She gritted her teeth and continued walking to the great hall.

~~.~~

"So it's definitely over between you and Applebee?" Al asked for the thirteenth time with an irritatingly triumphant smirk on his face. They were running late for breakfast, and hurrying down the marble staircases. Scorpius scowled and nodded for the thirteenth time. "Yes, potter. Now please quit bringing it up."

"Why, does it embarrass you?" Al said, elbowing Scorpius playfully in the ribs. "No, you are just irritating me to no end." Scorpius said.

Al's grin slipped off his face and he scowled too.

"I won't bring it up again."

"Thanks." Scorpius said earnestly.

"Don't mention it." Al said a bit hesitant.

Scorpius smirked to himself because of Al's hesitation, it showed how little times Scorpius lost with their verbal sparring.

Merlin, he had to watch out not to say that out loud or he had to kick his own arse. Verbal sparring, what was that for kind of term?

Hurrying down the last few fits of stairs, Al threw open the doors to the great hall and Scorpius and Al slipped in, as unnoticed as Scorpius would have liked.

Slipping into the seats at the end of the table, Scorpius and Al immediately dug in, starved from the hectic life of... lumbering around and doing nothing, but getting hungry all the same.

"How's potions going?" Scorpius asked between bites.

" 's going alright." Al acknowledged. Scorpius noticed Al could eat an enormous amount of food in an extremely short amount of time without eating like a complete pig. Years of practice, he supposed.

"Hogsmeat still in danger?"

Al nodded sourly. "Until I get into advanced potions."

Scorpius smiled sympathetically. "I feel for you, mate."

But Al wasn't looking at Scorpius anymore. Scorpius frowned and looked around, seeking the source of Al's distraction.

It stood some feet away, in the form of the world's most annoying couple. Rose Weasley was softly whispering to Terrance Wood, Some bloke on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Scorpius didn't really know the guy, but he did know his younger brother that was on the Griffindor Quidditch team.

Scorpius might not know the bloke, but he sure did pity the poor fool for his awful taste in girls, and who choose Weasley, Weasley for Godric's sake, as girlfriend.

"Why are you whispering, I can't hear you over the rumour." Wood said loud enough for Al and Scorpius to hear, and they were sitting some fifteen feet away. A few more heads turned towards them. Hungry souls living off gossip perked up hopefully.

Weasley said something back, still too soft for them to hear.

"For merlin's sake Rose. Just talk out loud." Wood cried exasperatedly.

Scorpius looked at Al, who was frowningly watching the exchange.

"I just wanted to apologize." Weasley said, a great deal softer than Wood.

A mug slammed down next to Al and Scorpius jumped when the glumful Rosalia Key sat down next to Al, Gilly trailing behind her, commign here to ease-drop on Weasley and her boy-toy. Scorpius smirked at them.  
Al didn't even spare them a glance. His mouth was a thin line of disapproval, his eyes still on his cousin.

"... Just lost track of time." Scorpius heard Weasley say.

"It's not because you didn't show earlier, Rose. You've been blowing me off for some time now." Wood said.

Scorpius perched forward a bit. Trouble in paradise for Weasley eh? He had to know more about this.

"I've been busy, Ter, you know that. With school and quidditch and prefect duties..."

Rose trailed off while Scorpius was sure he could distinguish a sceptical grimace on Wood's face.

"Like I am not busy. But I make time for you, Rose. If you don't want to be with me anymore..."

"It's not like that at _all_!" Weasley said hastily.

"Are you sure, Rosie?"

Weasley nodded and looked away. Wood started playing with her vividly red curls, cupping her cheek. Scorpius suddenly had the urge to vomit somewhere, preferably over them.

"I promise I'll try better." Rose said, barely audible.

When Wood closed in on her, Scorpius quickly looked away. If he would have to look at such violence, he was sure his instincts would take over and puke, and puking wasn't manly enough to be done by him.

Both Rosalia and Al were still watching Weasley and Wood, while Gilly was switching between looking and staring at Al.

"Told her." Rosalia said, turning towards Gilly.

Gilly jumped, being in the middle of examining every inch of Al's face. "That means nothing."Gilly said. "She has been busy."

"Gilly!" Al squeaked in surprise. Scorpius rolled his eyes and kicked him under the table. The guy really needed to man up a bit.

"I mean, Gilly." Al tried to amend, his voice an octave lower.

"Al, I am sure Gilly is just dying to talk to you, but not now." Rosalia said, rolling her eyes. Al scowled.

"And that is no excuse. And she can't go back to devoting all her time to him. Then we won't see her, ever."  
Gilly bit her lip, and for a brief second Scorpius thought he could see Gilly from Al's eyes, but before he could take it in, the vision was gone. He blinked a few times and shook his head.

"Are you going to keep on talking about Rose?" Scorpius asked gruffly.

Rosalia set her cool eyes on him. "Yes." She said coldly.

"Then I bid thee farewell. goodbye, fair ladies."  
Scorpius got up and left the great hall. He was glad both Weasley and Wood were gone.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Al watched Scorpius stalk off, then returned his attention to the one who was tugging at it; Gilly. Her green eyes were on his and he felt his cheeks grow hot as he looked away.

"Gilly." Rosalia said sternly. "Where is Abby?"

Gilly looked around. "Didn't she skip supper for the library? She said something about sneaking into the kitchen."

Rosalia nodded "Can be. Who is going to check up on Rose then?"

Al looked from Rosalia's steel eyes to Gilly's moss coloured ones and wondered what went on behind them.

"Why don't you go?" Gilly asked.

"Can't." Rosalia said immediately. "We're fighting."

"Then why do you care?" Al asked curious. He always had the impression Rosalia cared for nothing and no one. He remembered once, when Gilly fell down,it took Rosalia at least five minutes to come to her aid, because she had been laughing so hard.

Rosalia glared at him, making Al slide down the bench a few seats. Then she sniffed. "I don't." If the words were just a little harder, Al was sure they would have cut.

He held up his hands. "I didn't mean it like that." But Rosalia stood up with a huff and walked off as well, throwing Al one last glare.

Gilly smiled reassuringly at him, and his stomach did a series of acrobatics. "Don't worry about Rosalia She's always like that." Gilly said softly.

"So you think we should go check up on Rose?" Gilly asked when Al remained quiet.

"No, I don't." Al said. "I think we should sent Abby. She won't expect us to show up and that will irritate her to no end and make her even more reluctant to talk to us about why..."

"Why she ran off?"

Al nodded and fumbled with the edge of his robes. "I wouldn't know where to find Rose in the first place."

"She is good in disappearing." Gilly assented.

"So... shall we go look for Abby?" Al asked. A smile lit up Gilly's face and she nodded. "Yes. Let's go."

~~.~~

Gilly and Al walked in silence for a long time. Al's heart was beating so hard he wondered how it was possible that Gilly didn't hear it and their footsteps were the only sound in the empty corridors.

"Where are we going?" Al asked eventually.

"The library."

Al frowned. "You think she is in the library? We are looking for Abby, right? Not Rose."

Gilly shrugged. "Yes, Abby's probably in the library. After studying she's probably heading down to the kitchens. Eating and keeping the house elves company."

Al chuckled. "She got that from my aunt Hermione."

"Really?" Gilly asked interested. "Hermione Weasley. She's the finder of S.P.E.W. right?"

"We just call it spew." Al confessed, messing up his hair. Gilly giggled. "Don't let your aunt hear that." She said with a wink.

Al's cheeks heat up. He quickly looked down to hide his burning cheeks from Gilly. He was uncomfortably aware of how much he resembled a tomato.

"We're here." Gilly said suddenly.

Al looked up to the sight of the library doors and sighed.

"Here we are again, old enemy." He said solemnly.

Gilly giggled and opened the doors. "Don't come here too often?"

Al shook his head. "As little as I can." He confessed.  
"You search right, I search left?" He suggested. Gilly nodded.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Rose crept into her bed, chilled to her bones. She had been sitting at the edge of the black lake for hours, thinking. She had been sure it was the only place where she could find some peace, because she had no doubt that Abby would be on her case the moment she heard she had a little argument with Terrance. It was nothing, just a little difference in opinions. No big deal, but Abby would manage to turn it into one.

She wondered why she had pulled away from him and ran off. He had just forgiven her, and now she ruined it.

What if he thought she didn't want to be with him because of it... Because she really did want to be with him. She had just felt overwhelmed, _suffocated_.

She clamped her hands over her mouth and held her breath when she felt a sneeze coming up.  
So, sitting outside at the edge of a half frozen lake had it's drawbacks too. No big deal, she got used to coughing a few days ago.

Drawing the covers over her head and snuggling into the pillow, Rose promised to herself that she would manage everything she had gotten on her plate one way or another.

She would show Terrance how much he meant to her.

~~~~O.0~~~~

The next week passed in one big blur of classes, quidditch practice, prefects rounds and friends. She felt absolutely exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than sleep, but every time she snuggled up on an armchair in front of the fire to take a little nap, she remembered something else to do, or someone reminded her of it.

She was glad she had the hollidays to look forward to. She didn't think she could have managed it otherwise.

She was also glad that Terrance had said nothing about how she had ran out on him. She didn't know what she had to say when he did. _Sorry honey, but I felt suffocated, but don't worry, because I totall still want to be with you, despite that you suffocate me. _

Abby however had tried to talk to her about Terrance once, but one tired shake of Rose's head had put a stop to that too. she hadn't brought it up afterwards. Why would she, she saw them around the school, she knew how happy Terrance made her.

The only thing Rose hadn't accomplished yet was make amends with Rosalia. Partly because she didn't have the time, partly because she felt reluctant of admitting she had done something wrong.

So here she was sitting, in a dark corner of the common room, doing her homework while everyone else was getting ready for Gilly's party that started a few hours later.  
She was a few days behind with transfiguration homework, and that would not do. Her mother would be so disappointed if she heard.

Abby was the one to disturb her in her studies, as usual.

"Rosie! Classes ended a few hours ago. holidays started. It's party time." She said, grabbing Roses quill. Rose made a grab at it, but missed.

"I have to make this. I'll still be there tonight."

"You can't. We're helping Gilly set it us, remember."

Rose wavered. "I know.." Rose said. "But that's not for another hour."

"Half an hour. And you need that time to get ready, because you don't have any time afterwards." Abby said, scurrying Rose upstairs.

The room upstairs was one explosion of colours. "What exploded?" Rose asked, covering her eyes.

"Abby and Gilly." Rosalia said icily. Rose peeked at her through her eyes, but decided to ignore her for the time being. She wouldn't fight with Rosalia now. She wouldn't do that to Gilly.

"So Gilly, turning seventeen at midnight." Rose said instead.

"Yes." Gilly said, combing her golden hair.

"Excited?"

"Just hurry up Rosie!" Abby said, pushing her towards the bathroom. "I'll pick out your outfit. Don't worry."  
Yes, because Abby picking out your dress wasn't worrying. Rose sighed and washed her face, combed her hair and brushed her teeth.

When Abby burst into the room with an emerald green dress that did not look repulsing, Rose sighed in relief.  
"I like your hair." Abby said, gesturing to the single lock Rose had pinned behind her head. She had put absolutely no effort in it.

"But why aren't you wearing any makeup? We are girls, we are allowed to cheat, you know."

Rose scoffed. "That must be the most untrue thing you have ever said, and I am wearing mascara."  
Abby huffed and began attacking Rose's face with cosmetics. Rose didn't even dare to look what she did.  
She thanked merlin when Abby was done in three minutes. Even Abby couldn't do much damage in three minutes.

Looking in the mirror, she saw red lips and black lined eyes.

"Isn't it a bit much?" Rose asked, gesturing to the lips that were the exact colour of her hair.

"Nah, It looks perfect. Now change, we're all done already."

~~.~~

A few minutes later, Abby, Gilly, Rose and Rosalia were standing in an abandoned classroom near the Griffindor tower.

"So, this is it." Gilly said.

"Isn't it a bit small?" Abby said doubtfully, looking around.

"That's what Rosie is for." Gilly said, looking at Rose expectantly.

"Ans we'll do the decoration, Abby. And Rosalia; s going to sneak in the.. ehh."  
"Booze." Rosalia said, her arm crossed. Rose looked away quickly and took out her wand. "How many people are coming?" She asked, while Rosalia walked out of the room and headed down to the kitchens.

Gilly shrugged. "A hundred? more.. I don't know. I invited most Griffindors in fifth year and above, and from the other houses only those in our year."

Rose smiled. She had figured as much.

Readying herself, she took a deep breath and lifted her wand.

Closing her eyes, she muttered a few choice words to herself.

"Don't make it too big, Rosie." Abby said, closing her hand over Rose's and lowering the wand for her. Rose immediately stopped the magic and looked around. The room had tripled in size in the span of a few seconds, and Rose felt exhaustion briefly come over her.

Concentrating was exhausting.

"Can you help me move these tables?" Gilly asked, labouring with heavy tables.

"Of course." Abby and Rose quickly hurried over to help her.

~~.~~

I hope you enjoyed it. Whether you did or didn't, leave a review. Come on, don't be a muggle and just do it.


	5. Cleaning up while foating

Lights were flashing, playing with the colours of people's clothes, lighting up the one and then the other. The air was hot and full of music, dancing on its own past the students, who were lightly swaying in comparison. It was impossible to see more than the person dancing next to you and hear more than an occasional loud cream of joy over the music that even made the floor vibrate.

Rose was sitting in one of the benches she had convinced Gilly to leave and was observing the party. It was quite entertaining to see everyone getting looser and tipsyer by the passing minute.  
Where people had blushed when their hands brushed when the evening had still been young, they were now dancing hip to hip shamelessly, not even the least bit embarrassed.

Rose sipped her drink and watched her cousin, James, that normally only showed interest in a quaffle, snog some girl from Hufflepuff in amusement. She had been under the impression James had married his broom and badge, like her uncle Charlie had married dragons.

"May I have this dance?" Someone yelled over the music.

Terrance held out his hand, the picture of elegance.

Rose finished her drink in one swig, smiled and let him lead her to the crowded dance floor.

She placed her hands around his neck and he fitted his hands around her waist. She got lost in his beautiful eyes while they gently swayed on the music.

~~~~O.0~~~~

A painful pounding in his head woke Al up early that morning. He opened his eyes and cried out, covering them immediately. Not a good idea. Not a good idea at all. Al groaned and rolled around, half happy he was lying in a bed _alone_, half apprehensive because he did not remember going to bed.

In fact, he didn't remember anything clearly after leaving to go to Gilly's party with Scorpius. He rubbed his eyes and tried opening them again. His head felt like it was being pierced with a thousand little glass shards, entering through his eyes sockets.

"Is this what dying feels like?" He muttered, rubbing his eyes irritated.

Hangover draught. That was what he needed. He was having a hangover. Al groaned again. That did explain his memory loss. How in Merlin's name could he have been so stupid?

Al suddenly bolted towards the bathroom and to the toilet.

He emptied his stomach in it, feeling more awful with every passing second.

"You really are an idiot, Al." A voice said from behind him and someone tucked his bangs behind his ears. Al wiped his mouth and looked who it was.

Rose reminded him of his own mother, the way she was looking at him. Concerned and yet stern. Al felt another wave come up and bend back over the toilet when his stomach convulsed again. Rose gently rubbed his back until he was finished.

"I feel like crap." Al said.

"You should." Rose answered. "Do you remember anything?"

She poured a glass of water for him. Al shook his head and regretted it. His head felt really to explode. "Nothing." He said. Rose inspected his face for a moment and nodded sharply, handing him a the glass. Al felt dread coming up. It stung at his insides just as much as the bile had moments before. "Why, what did I do?"

"Remember when you asked me if I knew if Gilly likes anyone?"

Al's eyes widened. Merlin, it couldn't.. Did Gilly hook up with someone and did he do something incredibly stupid? Did he punch the guy.. If he did, Al was sure he wouldn't have held back, and Al could do some considerable damage with his quidditch trained arms. Was the bloke Gilly fancied now in the hospital wing because of him? Wait, why was he worried about some unknown bloke? If his mother heard, Al was dead. Absolutely, irreversibly dead-

"She does." Rose interrupted his frantic thoughts.

"Bloody hell. Did I.. Who?" Al asked, rinsing his mouth with water.

"You."

Al almost choked on the water and snapped his head towards her. When the pounding in his head faded away and he could see again, her eyes were still disapproving, and Al's heart fell. There was no way he and Gilly had hooked up, with Rose looking that judgemental.

"What did I do?" He asked resigned.

"You were being a right idiot and were snogging Applebee's, Applebee for crying out loud! Applebee's face off." Al had a sudden urge to rinse his mouth again. Preferably with a brush and disinfectants.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Al said leaning his head against the mirror.

"I did that?"

"That, and dance like a buffoon and being irritating all over. You are quite the talker when you're drunk by the way. I never knew you still sleep with Abuh." Al's jaw went slack with horror. "I told you that?" He asked in a small voice. He was mortified Rose knew he still slept with his childhood teddy bear.

"You told everybody." Rose said, smiling at the memory.

"Al groaned and began hitting his head against the wall. He stopped after his head exploded, the second it hit the wall. The pain was unbearable.

"I am dying." Al groaned.

"Oh, that reminds me. I brought you something." Rose said. Al looked and saw her holding up a flask, filled with the most disgusting looking potions in the history of potions. His eyes became hungry as he eyed it, afraid it would disappear. "Is that what I think it is?" Al asked, inching closer.  
"Hangover draught, freshly brewed." Rose confirmed.

"No wonder you look vital." Rose huffed and handed him the flask. "I look like this because I didn't drink more than I could handle, to the contrary of some other persons I know."

Al drank the contents in one gulp and sighed in relief when the feeling that someone was dancing on his head went away. "Have I ever told you how much I love you, Rosie?" Al sighed.

"So you're feeling better?" Rose asked.

Al nodded fervently.

"And you're going to apologise to Gilly?"

"Of course!"

Rose made to leave the bathroom, but before she was gone she said "And Al?"

"Yes?" Al asked.

"I'd better start packing if I were you, the train leaves in three hours, and if your not on it, I will personally help aunt Ginny come up with ways to kill you."

~~~~O.0~~~~

Rose had made it a point to torture herself and stand up early (What in these circumstances meant, didn't go to sleep at al).  
Yesterday at the party, a few things had happened that needed fixing, and since Rose had been one of the few people who hadn't drunk herself into a coma -even Terrance had passed out at the end of the night- she had taken on the task of making sure no rifts arose between her friends, and cousins.

Why everyone she remotely liked, drank so much at parties was beyond her. You would think that they would stop after their fifth drunken screw up, but apparently it didn't work that way.

So after she had lead the last person back to their common room, she had cleaned up the classroom for Gilly, poured herself one last glass of the delicious drinks Abby called the _secret snitch_ and went to her own dormitories.  
She had checked she had everything packed for the ride home, and by the time she was done, it was seven in the morning and her eyes were starting to droop.

She looked around the dormitory at the girls, half hanging out of their beds. They looked hangover, even in their sleep, groaning slightly in their sleep from time to time.

Rose, being the considerable friend she was, used her time at seven in the morning, not to sleep, or to shower so she could wake up, but to sneak down to the kitchens and ask the house elves if they could get her some hangover draughts from the hospital wing, because, she explained to the bouncing house elf (Who's name ironically was bouncy) helping her, professor Longbottom asked her to get them, but the hospital wing was closed.  
There was no way Madame Felicia was going to give them to Rose herself.

The elf was ever so happy to help her, and a few minutes later, she left the kitchen with a steaming hot mug of coffee, several flasks with hangover draught and a sandwich she had happily accepted.

Her first destination was Al. The idiot. Snogging Applebee right in front of Gilly. Rose was ready to kill him with her bare hands by the time she had climbed up all the stairs to his dormitory, but when she had seen him in his not so charming, hangover state, she had taken pity on him and only looked at him sternly.  
And informed him of his wrongdoings of course.

Her second destination was her younger cousin Lily, who was not even supposed to be going to the damned party. It seemed she had just as hard a time as her brother with dealing with her hangover. The girl had looked so awful and white, Rose handed her a hangover draught in mute agreement that Lily was not off the hook yet, but Rose wouldn't give her a hard time.  
She would atone for her sins, seeing as James had, quite clearly, seen Lily snogging two different guys. Rose hoped for her younger cousin, James didn't remember much of his night himself.

The third was Fred, who had cheated on his long term girlfriend and gotten in a huge fight with her at the party.  
He seemed to deeply regret it the moment Rose had woken him up, and had practically burst out in tears when Rose reminded him it had, in fact, been his fault. So she lost another of her draughts and promised him, quite stupidly, she would help him to make it up to her.

Her fourth destination was two beds away from her third. After she was done with consoling Fred and he moved on to take a shower, Rose went to James and woke him up by rolling him out of his bed. He did not, nor ever would deserve a gentle waking with the brutal quidditch practices he gave.  
unfortunately for Lily, he seemed to remember the last night quite well so Rose threatened to keep the hangover draught if he didn't start acting like a reasonable human being and accept that Lily got drunk for the first time and made some mistakes. At the end, she managed to make him promise her that he wouldn't kill the poor boys Lily kissed, and he wouldn't ignore his little sister for ever either. Rose found she had done enough for her cousins and retreated to her own dormitory to to some damage control there.

She found that only Abby had woken up, and she looked miserable, sitting on her bed with her hand in her heads.  
Rose tossed her a draught -she was almost running out- and asked her what was wrong. Abby started protesting rather suspiciously, looking like a deer caught in wand-light and quickly flew to the shower, leaving Rose quite certain Abby had done something stupid as well.  
Rose had more pressing matters at hand though. She had something over an hour to wake up her room mates, get them ready for the train ride, and make sure Gilly and Al were together at least once before they reached the platform so Al could apologise.

She went over to Rosalia and woke her gently. She figured it was okay. Rosalia had, after her sixth drink, thrown her arms around Rose and told her in slurred words that she was sorry for their fight, and that she wasn't mad any more. Of course, there was always the danger that Rosalia would be mad once again when the alcohol left her blood.

Rosalia, as always, Started screaming and glaring when woken, waking Gilly as well. Rose tossed both her last hangover draughts. When both quieted down, Rose patiently told Gilly that she talked to Al that morning and that he was very sorry, and told Rosalia reluctantly that she had hooked up with her ex-boyfriend Andy. It was quite terrifying to be the one to deliver Rosalia that news, even if Rosalia already knew. Rose suspected Rosalia had been telling herself it had been a dream.

Rose found both their reactions quite interesting. Not amusing, no. No amusing at all. It was quite frightening and very irksome -because Rose knew she would be the one to help them, she always was- but interesting all the same.

Rosalia starting cursing in the most passionate manner she had ever cursed, then kicked Abby out of the bathroom and tried to drown herself in the shower, and Gilly started staring at her feet and biting her bottom lip.

"Abby." Rose said to Abby, who was still pounding on the door, demanding that Rosalia let her in. Abby turned around.

"The train's leaving in three-quarter hour. You're friends with my cousin Fred's girlfriend, right?"

She nodded, and kicked against the bathroom door one last time. "Yes, why?"

"Do you think you can convince her to talk to him?" Rose asked hesitantly.

Abby thought for a moment. "depends, what did he do?"

Rose shrugged. "He was an idiot and took James' dare and kissed some other girl, don't know who." Abby's face contorted. "Why doesn't it even surprise me?" She asked.

"because my family is built out of emotionally oblivious twats, who act before they think." Rose explained, feeling very tired.

"I'll talk to her, but I can promise nothing." Abby said, and quickly changed before leaving.  
Rose sat down next to Gilly, who was still looking at her feet and biting her lip.

"A penny for your thoughts." Rose said.

Gilly's head snapped up. "What?" She asked, wide eyed.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Al." Gilly answered, her eyes troubled.

"You know he's crazy about you, right?" Rose asked.

"Then why did he snog that girl?"

Rose took Gilly's hand and squeezed it. "Because it was easier for him to make a move on her. If he got rejected by her, he only his pride would have been wounded, if he got rejected by you, his heart would have been broken."

"So he broke mine instead." Gilly said, tears in her eyes. Rose hugged her. "Oh Gilly, he doesn't like her. He was just drunk."

But Gilly didn't respond any more. Tears were silently running down her cheeks, sparkling like lone diamonds. She stood up and began packing her last belongings away in her trunk.

"Are you going to be okay?" Rose asked.  
Gilly nodded in response, not looking up from her trunk. Rose looked at the time, and at Gilly and bit her lip in indecision.

"Look, Gilly, I really have to go and make sure everyone gets on the train. It leaves in half an hour, please make sure you and Rosalia are on it."

Gilly nodded again, and Rose left the room.

~~.~~

It proved harder than she expected to get everyone on the Hogwarts express. Not only had Dominique been lost -She had been found sneaking out of the Ravenclaw tower, no doubt after spending the night there with a boy-, the rest had made it as hard as possible for Rose by being their chaotic and disorganised selves.

By the time Rose had them all packed in several compartments -it was better to separate them into groups, less things got broken this way-, Rose had begged the machinist for an extra fifteen minutes twice.

"I hate you all, do you know that?" Rose asked sourly, taking her seat next to Al, when the train finally started moving.

"charming mood." Al said. Rose groaned and hid her face into Al's arm. "Did you apologize to Gilly yet?"

"Fuck. I knew I forgot something." Al said, and messed up his hair. Rose shook her head in exasperation and stood up. "Well, you're going to. Now." She said, and lead Al away from the carrige that held the Weasley -and Potter- family.

~~.~~  
"I just don't know what to do about it." Rosalia's voice drifted through a compartment door that was slid open the tinyest bit.

"Rosalia, he isn't good for you, he never was." Gilly said. Her voice sounded raw, like she had done a lot of crying.

Rose quickly knocked on the door before she could hear more. She did not want to easedrop on her friends.  
"Come in?" Gilly said. Rose opened the door and poked her head in. Gilly and Rosalia were sitting in the compartment alone.

"oh, hi Rose. Do you want to sit with us?" Rosalia asked, their fight completely forgotten. Rose shook her head. "I'm going to sit with Abby and Terrance. I just came to drop this git off. He own you an explanation." And she pushed Al inside.

"Please, do not kill him, we need him at Christmas." She added as an after thought as she closed the compartment door, leaving Al to his fate.

~~.~~

Scorpius was wondering around the train, looking for Al. He had left Kevin a few minutes ago, because he couldn't stop scowling and moping about Al kissing Olivia Applebee at the party the whole while. In the beginning it had been amusing, then it got downright annoying. Much like drunk people.

Peeking into every compartment, Scorpius finally found Al, sitting with, -hurray, hurray- Weasley, Wood and Abby Longbottom.

He opened the door without knocking and sat down next to Al. "Bloody hell, you should have heard Kevin go on and on why he should have been the one that kissed Olivia." He said, tiredly rubbing his eyes. Al scowled. "I would happily switch with him." He pointed at his cheek, that had a red splotch on it. "Gilly slapped me."

Abby sniggered. "Well, it was your own fault." She said when Al glared at her.

"I know! But I wasn't accountable for my actions, I can barely remember it."

"Ah, that's a shame man. Olivia is a really good kisser." Scorpius teased. Now he looked better, the red splotch indeed had the outlines of a hand.

When disgusted noises didn't erupt, Scorpius looked over to Weasley in surprise and found her sleeping soundly, dark circles under her eyes. Wood, who sat opposite her, was watching her closely.

He never knew Wood was such a creep.

He could understand why though. Weasley looked quite pretty with her obnoxious mouth shut. Her long legs were pressed against her chest and her chin was resting on one of her knees,giving Scorpius a good view of her face. Her high cheekbones were adorned with a few freckles and you could see she had big eyes, even when they were closed. Ever her wild hair of vividly red curls looked decent when her face was this peaceful, and not contorted into a sneer.

"That's really gross." Al shuddered, pulling Scorpius' attention away from Weasley. "Please, never remind me that I kissed one of the airheads you went out with."

Scorpius smirked. "Like you could get another. They do have high standards, you know."

"Please, please, please change the subject." Abby said, putting her fingers in her ears.

"Alright.' Al said while Scorpius laughed.

Wood turned in his seat and looked at Abby.

"And no, you can't wake her up. She's been running around all day." Abby said sternly. Wood scowled and grumbled something that sounded a bit like 'she's no fun when she's asleep'.

Maybe a bit too much like that, because Al's hands bowled up into fist for a brief moment.

"So, Al. What are you going to do over the holidays?" Abby asked hastily.

~~~~O.0~~~~

The two weeks passed in the blink of a chaotic second and Al couldn't decide had been his favourite part of the vacation. James being pranked by Teddy, Victiore and Dominique; Christmas eve, when he ended up sitting outside by a little pond with Rose, James, Dominique, Roxy and Freddy getting drunk of fire whiskey Roxy had nicked; Getting presents at christmas morning or playing quidditch with the whole family.

"So what did you do during the vacation?" Scorpius asked, sitting across from Al. "And don't you say not much, because you were definantly too busy to owl."

Al smirked. "It was so wonderful, I don't think I'll even tell you. You'd only be jealous."  
Scorpius looked impressed for a moment. "So, Al. When did you grow your backbone?" He asked, half amused.

"After Molly called me a pushover." Al said. "Molly!"

"Ah, look. there lies your mistake." Scorpius said. "You're not supposed to answer. You're supposed to smirk and say something along the lines of _yo mama_ and _so fat_."

A smile crossed Al's face dispite himself. "That's not even funny."

"And yet here you are laughing." Scorpius said in mock wonder.

Al realised he had lost yet again.

"How were your holidays?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Same as always. Had a lot of time to myself. I caught up with some homework, talked a bit with the house elves, had a few dinners with the parents. Nothing major."

Al grabbed his chance. "A malfoy talking to a house elf willingly? That is unheard off."

"It just shows how sophisticated our house elves are." Scorpius replayed.

Al scowled. "You are too good at this."

"I know." Scorpius said cockily."You should start with someone like James, then work your way up the food-chain. I am all the way on the top."

" Food-chain?" Al asked laughing.

"Yes, so watch out. It's a dangerous game, this play of words." Scorpius said in a spooky voice.

~~~~O.0~~~~  
"Why are we putting up with James again?" Rose asked Al, rolling her shoulders after the fourth quidditch practice that week. It was barely Wednesday. James had had another 'genius' strike, and decided that they were practising whenever the field was open until the match against Slytherin, because it was his last year and he was going to kill all of them if they didn't win the quidditch cup for him. Rose suspected Slytherin was probably going to win, because they weren't all going to fall off their brooms out of exhaustion.

"He can kick us off the team." Al said. Rose yawned and looked over to his plate, piled with bacon. "If he kicks us all off the team, he won't have a team." Rose reasoned, eyeing his bacon hungrily. Al shrugged. "Yes, I suppose so."  
Rose felt the urge to bang her head against the table. "You are incredibly, uncharacteristically dry this morning." She remarked.

"I suppose you're right." Al said.

"You're being insufferable."

"And you're quite irritable."

Rose nicked some of his bacon. "I am not. I am being perfectly reasonable concidering the amount of physical activity I have had, considering it's only eight in the morning.

"Do tell more." Al said monotone. Rose sighed irritated and looked away from her lifeless cousin, looking for someone that had the capability to keep a conversation going this early in the morning.

"Yes, do tell Rosie." Abby said, sitting down next to Rose and looking perfectly rested. Rose watched her jealousy as she stretched, not from pained muscled, but from recent sleep.

"What are you supposed to tell? You and Terrance finally brought it to the next level?"

Rose felt her cheeks go warm and shook her head, mortified Abby would say such a thing, just out of the blue. "Of course not, Abby. Don't be silly."

Abby shrugged. "I'm not being all that silly, actually. I mean, you are sixteen, we're in sixth year and you have been dating for, what, four months now? Merlin knows if I would have been dating him, I would have-"

Rose clamped her hands over Abby's mouth. "I am not discussing this with my cousin sitting right there." She said.

Abby chuckled and began eating her toast, watching Rose turning Reddened by the second.

"Please, stop looking at me." Rose said, looking away.

Abby chuckled again and playfully messed up Rose's hair. "Don't worry, Rosie. Your secrets are safe with me." Rose scowled. "What secrets?" She asked under her breath. She did not have a lot to hide. With her, you got what you saw, and Rose liked this honesty. Abby shrugged. "Just so you know."

Rose scowled and remained quiet. "So, want to hang out tonight? I have barely seen you since we got back." Abby said. Rose rubbed her eyes. "Can't. I have yet another practice James planned, and Prefect duties after that."

Abby sighed and poked Rose in her cheek with her spoon. "Then skip it."

The shocked look in Rose's eyes made her laugh. "Really, Rose. You are such a bore sometimes."

"For a change, I completely agree with you." A tall blonde drawled, appearing out of nowhere with the soul purpose to annoy Rose, and make her already irritable morning even less bearable.

"Shove off, Malfoy."

Malfoy smirked, shoved Rose instead and sat down next to Al. "You seem to be in my spot, Weasley."

Rose glared daggers at him, hoping one would materialise and stab him in the heart. "Just ignore him, Rosie." Abby said, rolling her eyes. Rose scowled. she usually tried that, but he made that rather hard by being in her face and insulting her all the time.

Rose took out her Herbology homework and made some last minute changes so she would have an excuse not to look at Malfoy.

"Why do you even take that rotten subject?" Abby asked, looking over Rose's shoulder.

"Abby, your father teaches it." Rose said slowly.

"It doesn't make it a better subject. It is completely useless." Abby said, looking at her nails.

"I advice not saying that while your father is around." Rose said, crossing out a line, and correcting it. "Of course not. When he's around, I just bat my eyes and say what a shame it is I inherited my mothers talent for Herbology."

"And here I thought you were faking that and you were secretly brilliant."

Abby smiled mysteriously. "You know nothing, right?"

"Of course not."

~~.~~

_So close_, Rose thought, as she floated weightless though the air. She was falling down, and get hurt landing. James was going to kill her now. Absolutely kill her. She had been ever so close surviving Him and his bloody quidditch obsession.

Her eyes widened in realisation he might not have to. Floating weightlessly through the air Rose had done before, but she was sure seconds had gone by and she still hadn't made contact with the ground. She opened her eyes and looked in the surprised, _surprised_, look on Malfoy's face and she realised she hated that expression more than his smirk. How could he look surprised, seeing her float down the staircase?

Time seemed to crawl by, while the only things Rose was concious of was the wind in her ears and the dread of landing. She had been so damned close to surviving Malfoy too. Just one and a half year to go and she would be rid of him for ever.

She didn't even know how they had started fighting this time. They had had this unspoken agreement ever since James had decided daily quidditch practice was necessary, that leaving each other alone was the best course of action. They had been too busy to keep their usual fights going, or she had been. She had no idea what he had been up to, and felt absolutely no desire to learn it now.

But something had set them off, regardless. It never took much. One misplaced word, or one misplaced foot making the other fall could be enough, and Rose had been so tired she was sure even a slightly too irritated stare from Malfoy could set her off. Bit it didn't matter what had started it, what mattered was that it had gotten a bit out of hand. Rose didn't loose her temper often. She found that every time she did, she disappointed someone. Either her mother, a teacher or a friend, so she kept it in check most of the time.

She had lost in completely -Probably something to do with her exhaustion- and had ever fired hex at him. Of course this was nothing new, she did it all the time, but hexing him from a secure area and from right in front of his nose were two completely different things.  
Well, ten minutes of yelling at each other, throwing with the most hurtful things they could think off -Nothing special either, they had both said everything so many times already, the words had lost meaning- later, he had sent a hex towards her.

She had dived out of the way, and here she was, floating. She wished she hadn't dived. No hex could have been worse than a fall that lasted at least an eternity.

Rose finally hit the floor with a somewhat satisfying crunch, and a far more satisfying look of horror on Malfoy's face.

She liked that expression on him, she decided as her vision turned black. Horrified suited him.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Al was wondering the corridors once again. He had made a habit of making a round around the castle every day to clear his head. He mostly thought about Gilly, who still hadn't forgiven him. Well, not that Al blamed her. He would be furious with her too if she had kissed someone in front of him, and tell him the next day that she did like him, and not that other guy.

He was always thinking about Gilly nowadays. Thinking of ways to make it up to her.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Al hears someone say. He recognised his voice, and looked around, looking for the owner. Scorpius wasn't within his line of vision, so Al went in the direction his voice had come from.

"Fuck!"

He wondered what Scorpius had done this time. He had this way of getting himself into impossible situations.

A few moments later, Al was almost run over by his best friend, who had something big, and red in his arms. "Al!" Scorpius yelled in surprise, regaining his balance and tightening bis grip on whatever he was holding so gingerly. his eyes widened in guilt. Al slowly looked from Scorpius' guilty eyes, to the big thing in his arms.

"Rose?" he asked disbelief. "What- what happened to her?"

There was too much red, more than could have possibly been from her hair alone. Al looked better and gaped. Blood was splattered all over her robes, and her body seemed awkward, not in the right shape as if several bones had been snapped out of place. Scorpius shook his head and started running again. "I've got to run, Al." He said.

Al didn't let him off that easy though, and began following him, demanding answers.

"Scorpius! What happened? Scorpius!"

But Scorpius had always been more athletic that him, and soon Al was breathing heavily, struggling to keep up with Scorpius' long strides. Scorpius was completely ignoring his best friend as he ran as fast as he could.

"Fuck." Al heard Scorpius say, once again.

When he finally reached the hospital wing, the door were swung open and Scorpius was already inside, frantically talking to madame Felicia, waving his hands around, looking almost spastic, while madame Felicia was busying herself by one of the beds.

"And she fell." Was all Al caught when he was within hearing distance. Al looked at his friend. His pale skin had gone ghostly white and he had blood all over his robes from carrying Rose. There was even blood in his hair.

Scorpius went through his hair nervously and glanced at one of the beds.

That did explain the blood there. His hands were dripping with it.

"Scorpius!" Al said, braver than he felt. His knees had gone weak at the sight of so much blood. It was impossible for Rose to live after loosing so much, right? "What the hell.. What in the name off- What the fuck happened?"

Scorpius swallowed and looked down at his hands. He quickly looked up again at the sight of the blood.

"Rose fell down the stairs. Fucking hell, she honestly fell. I didn't even push her."

Al swallowed as well, and looked at the bed where Madame Felicia was running around. On it lay Rose, her skin as white as snow. Never before had Al noticed as clearly, how she had less freckles than the biggest part of their family.

"Which?" Al asked quietly, his stomach knotting together.

"Which what?" Scorpius asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Which staircase? Where did she fall!" Al yelled, suddenly angry. Madame Felicia didn't even look up, but there was no doubt her stern voice was meant for Al. "Mister Potter. I understand this is all very upsetting for you, but if you and Mister Malfoy can't be quite, I am afraid I will have to ask you both to leave. This is a place of rest and healing, not for shouting and running."

"I am very sorry, Madame Felicia." Al said through gritted teeth.

"She fell from those steep stairs, the ones you have to go down when you go from the library to the great hall." Scorpius said.

Al's eyes widened. "Those are... high."

"Cost me twenty five seconds to half jump down from them." Scorpius agreed. Al's eyes flashed. "And you let her fall down? What the hell kind of guy are you? I know you two have your-"

He would probably have gone on ranting a long time, but Madame Felicia had other idea's and ordered that they'd leave because she was -he quoted-_ trying to safe a life_.

"Trying to safe a_ life_!" Al yelled furiously when Madame Felicia had closed the doors.

"Look, I couldn't do anything." Scorpius said.

Al wasn't impressed and stalked off, kicking himself for never putting more effort into mending the contact between his two friends.

~~.~~

AN:

So, chapter 5. It's beginning to have an actual plot now.. review please. They make me happy. Being happy is fun. Be fun. Don't give in to the dark side, Please, be fun.


	6. Bedside visits

"What- What do you mean, Rose fell?" Hugo asked, clutching his book tightly. Al let out a long breath and gingerly took the book from Hugo, saving it from being crushed. "I mean, she's in the hospital wing and you should visit her." Blood drained from Hugo's face. He turned on his heal and half ran out of the common room. Al felt sorry for him. Hugo was one of those sensitive guys who always tried to help everybody out, and went depressed once someone took sick.

"What did you just say?" James said, appearing out of nowhere. He looked confused, like he had heard something that was too big for him to understand. Sometimes, Al wondered if James had had too many bludgers to the head.  
"Rose. She's in the hospital wing." Al said.  
"She's what?"  
For a second, Al thought James had found his humanity deep inside of him, and the look of concern on his face was meant for Rose. This newfound faith in his brother lasted only so long; a second. One moment later, Al realised it was not for Rose at all. He was thinking about his changes for winning next weeks quidditch game. There was no mistaking the twinkle that appeared in James eye, or the slight smile that tugged at the corners of his lips and made him look like a lovestruck idiot.  
"You are not to bring up quidditch." Al said through clenched teeth.  
"And why not? She is the one that landed herself in the hospital wing after I explicitly told her not to do anything dangerously this years." Al gritted his teeth ans started glaring, but before he could berate James for being an insensitive idiot, James stalked off after Hugo, muttering something like "How could she do that to me?"  
Al wondered how it was possible that James and he were related, much less brothers.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Scorpius walked through the corridors. His destination was the hospital wing, and he was absoluetly not sure if it was a good idea to go there. Al was mad at him, and James would be as well ("You injured my chaser! One week before the game? How could you, Malfoy!"). Also, when Al was mad at him, so was the rest of their clan, and that was something best avoided.

But that didn't even matter that much. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to see Weasley, because he didn't know if he wanted to see Weasley. He'd been thinking it over, and over, and over. The thinking drove him out of his mind. He went to do something before he turned crazy.  
He suspected he was too late. For some reason, his insides were eating each other out of guilt, like Weasley falling down had been his fault, what it had not been. Not even in the least. It was her who had stepped into thin air above a fucking staircase. _Because you fired a hex at her._

He shook his head. Okay, so he did have some of the blame, but he had never wanted Weasley to get injured this badly. She had almost died, for Godric's sake. She might have! He didn't even know and she had bled allot.

No, Weasley wouldn't do that. She loved annoying him too much to die on him. The again, if she died now'd probably annoy him by haunting him.  
Fuck, now he was doing it again. He was walking here so he wouldn't have to think about that. Just walk, and breath. And make your heart beat normally while you're at it.

James ran past Scorpius and did not stop to yell like Scorpius had expected. Scorpius shrugged and did not question his luck.

Scorpius neared the big doors that gave access to the hospital wing half an hour later. There was only so much time he could stall. He swallowed and opened the door before he could change his mind.  
Twelve hostile eyes landed on him instantly, and Scorpius used all his willpower not to step back. The worst thing was that this wasn't even the whole bunch. There were more. He counted Dominique, Fred, Roxanne, Lucy, Hugo, Al and - surprisingly - Gilly.

"What are you doing here?" Al demanded.  
"I came to see how Weasl- Rose, how Rose was doing." Scorpius said, daring to step forwards. He heard someone sniff and saw Dominique glaring at him. Scorpius grimaced. "Look, I really didn't mean for her to get hurt." He wasn't completely lying.  
"Right. Do you really expect us to believe that after all those times you landed her in the hospital wing?" Fred spat. His twin, Roxanne, nodded fervently and gave Scorpius the dirtiest looks he had ever gotten in his entire life. He wondered if that was a skill worth mentioning on a job application. _Talents: Gives the best dirty looks._ Scorpius looked at Al, but Al's face was a mask.  
"I just came to see if she's okay." Hie tried, hoping it would calm them down a bit.  
It seemed to do the exact opposite of what he intended. Dominique, Fred and Roxanne, all three older than Scorpius, turned red. Scorpius wondered for a second if their heads might explode, or that steam would come out of their ears.

As it turned out, they did explode, but not in the dangerous, head-exploding-death way. Instead, their tempers exploded in a whirlwind of noisy shouts and hand gestures they wouldn't have dared to flash if someone with the power of giving them detention was nearby.  
Scorpius betrayed no fear, he was a Griffindor after all - if a bit of an odd one -, and stepped closer, ignoring the voice inside of him that told him to turn and run for his life. The Malfoy voice was what he called it.  
"I don't want any trouble." He cut them off.  
Fred strode up to Scorpius and glared. "Should've thought of that earlier." He spat and with one fluid motion, hit Scorpius hard in his face. Scorpius tumbled backwards and hit the wall. Fred had never liked him much.  
"Fred, You mustn't ever use violence against another student, not even if it is_ him_." Lucy, the perfect prefect -Scorpius always thought of her as the little version of Weasley- said.  
Fred ignored her. "Now go." he said, pointing at the door. Scorpius steadied himself and clutched his left cheek. It throbbed.  
"Fine." He spat. "I don't care anyway. Let that bitch die if she wants to." He turned around and walked out of the hospital wing with his chin up and head held high like his father had thought him.

He was eternally grateful when Gilly came running after him a few minutes later and assured him Weasley wouldn't die. The gnawing inside him didn't stop though.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Rose was swallowed in darkness and drifted in and out of conciousness. She had no control over it. She was powerless and she didn't mind in the slightest. She wanted to sleep. She desperately lusted after it and now she could as much as she desired. She wasn't going to question the opportunity when it was given to her on a silver platter.

When Rose became concious once again, she began wondering where she was. She couldn't feel her body. She couldn't see, she couldn't smell and she couldn't hear. She told her it was supposed to upset her, but it didn't. It felt quite peaceful to just be in the darkness. And to sleep.  
She pondered the great questions of the world when she got bored. _Why do we exist? what is the purpose of anything? what is there after death?_ Especially the last one fascinated her for a long time. _Maybe, this is where we go. Maybe I have died without me noticing it._ But, like everything, the pondering lost her attention after some time. It made her feel like she was supposed to do something. She didn't want to. She wanted to continue lying there, and to sleep.  
She had no idea how much time passed while she was located in this black void. She was happy here. There was no stress and no drama, no exhaustion and always enough sleep. And the time she had just to think was eternal. She didn't know if she ever wanted to go back to what she now only remembered as a tangle of loud noises and stressful days, in which she was never completely herself.

It wasn't until she became aware of herself again, that she began feeling miserable.  
Her body felt as if it had been set on fire.  
How appropriate, Rose thought, remembering the words her father said every year when he came with her to platform 9 3/4 to see her off. Give 'em fire. The words were usually accompanied with a loving pat on the head, or an affectionate _Rosie_.  
Rose tried to force air into her burning lungs. It was like breathing in boiling hot water. Her breath caught in her throat and she struggled for another breath.  
"Weasley?" A familiar voice said. Weasley, not many people called her that. She wondered who it was, but her pain muffled mind couldn't figure it out.  
She tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat just ike her breath had done moment before. She started coughing. Each cough felt like a body wrecking punch to her chest and her throat seemed to be on fire.  
A cool hand was on her forehead. She tried to open her eyes to see who it was, and found she couldn't. Her eyes were too heavy.  
"Are you awake Weasley?"

She groaned, and forced her burning body to work. Finally her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, Rose feared she had gone blind. She was surrounded by darkness, and couldn't distinguish anything. She blinked a few times and let out another soft groan when her head started pounding.  
She cleared her throat. "Why do I feel like I've been breathing sawdust?" Rose asked with a raw voice, ignoring the pain that shot through her. She tried sitting up, but fell back down on the bed. Two strong hands steadied her. "Three cracked ribs, two fractured and a punctured lung." The voice summed up. Rose looked at the direction where the voice was coming from, but saw yet again only darkness.  
"Do you want me to leave?" The voice said nervously. "I can leave, I get it if you don't want me here. I mean, I get it. I just came here to.. to say..." He trailed off. Rose squinted and distinguished a form in the blackness.  
"Malfoy?" Rose croaked.  
"Yes."  
"What are you doing here?" It might had something to do with her head feeling so light and spiny, or because she had no idea where she was, or how she got there, but it didn't seem wrong that Malfoy was sitting here at her bedside. It fitted.

Rose yawned -It hurt-, maybe it was the sleep talking.  
He took a deep breath. "I came to apologise." Rose nodded, yet again unsurprised, and didn't respond. Talking hurt, and she didn't know what to say.

She didn't think Malfoy had ever apologised to her for anything he had done, and neither had she. It was one of their unspoken rules. No open display of regret, else they might see each other as human, and it would be harder to hate and terrorise someone who was human.  
"Do you want me to leave?" He asked, breaking the silence. With her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Rose could see the uncomfortable expression on his face. Rose sank back into the covers. She didn't care much about what he did. All she wanted was for the burning in her limbs to stop. She struggled against another yawned and wondered if the pain would stop again in her sleep. She did want to sleep.  
"I don't..." She said, but she never finished her sentence as sleep mercifully snatched her up.

~~~~O.0~~~~

James stood before the entrance to the hospital wing. He felt foolish for stalling going back here. Rose had been here for two days now. She had woken up one day, but James had felt too... Foolish? Ashamed? Guilty? Merlin. He didn't even know why he had such a hard time to go inside and tell his cousin to get well.  
He took a deep breath, sucked it up, and opened the door. There weren't many people inside. Only a few younger students with influenza, his younger sister Lily, and Rose herself. James scratched the back of his head and felt awkward under Lily's hard stare.

"James." Rose said in a painfully raw and quiet voice. She looked genuinely happy to see him. James bit on the inside of his cheek and approached the bed. Rose smiled happily at him. It puzzled James. He knew most everyone on his quidditch team hated his guts. he didn't even blame them. He was quite the nutter when it came to the game, and he knew he was pretty intolerable when he was being captain.  
"Hi Rose." James said, sitting down next to Lily.  
"It's good to see you, James." Rose's smile was filled with happiness and mischief, like it always was.  
"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner." James started. Lily scoffed form besides him, but Rose kept quiet and continued to look at him. "I came once before, but I... It was..." He trailed off, ashamed for himself.  
"Terrified because of my condition and completely unprepared to face me?" Rose asked. James looked away from her kind eyes. "Sort off..."

"Why?"

"I.. I don't know. I didn't know you were hurt so badly, and I came here to yell at you for landing your sorry arse in the hospital wing just before the match, but when I came here, you didn't just have a broken arm, or even a cracked skull. You were nearly in a coma. I think you were in a coma for a few minutes, and I felt absolutely terrible. I was only thinking about myself, while you could have been..." James felt tears appear in his eyes. He blinked them away. He would not cry. He needed to man up. Quickly, punch a wall, drink beer and eat raw meat. A small hand touched his. When he met Rose's eyes, he realised she already knew. There was no surprise in them, only understanding.

"Did you lock yourself up in your room?" She asked.

"How did you know?"

"You always do that, you can't handle being yelled at."

James waved it away, his emotions under control again. "No, I mean everything. How come you already knew."

A thin smile appeared on Rose's face. It was hollow and she shrugged. The movement seemed to pain her.

"You seem to forget that I am, besides a chaser as you mostly think of me, rather smart." Rose said.  
"Al cornered me before I locked myself up, and I did get yelled at." He said suddenly. He surprised even himself. Why the fuck did he tell Rose that? Did he seriously expect her to smile and tell him he wasn't a bad cousin? He did. If someone would say it, it was her.

"Poor you." Lily said, reminding him she was also still there. James suspected even Al would have been able to pick up on the sarcasm dripping off her statement. James shot her an irritated look and messed up his hair again. "You are one to talk."

Lily raised her eyebrows and scoffed. "What are you talking about, now?"  
"If I remember correctly, it was you who found spending some more time with your boyfriend, who is two year older than you, more important than going to Rose." Lily's cheeks turned red and she glared at him. "I did not." She said. The amount of ice in her voice was bringing the temperature in the room down at least ten degrees.  
"At least I bothered going to her immediately when I heard." James continued.  
"I did!" Lily shouted. She turned to Rose. "I really did Rose." Rose smiled and took Lily's hand. "I'm sure you did Lily." and she squeezed his little sisters hand. A relieved smile lit Lily's face, and she shot James another filthy look.  
"I'm going. Get well better soon, Rosie. We miss you." Lily said, standing up and flatening her robes. "Thank you Lily. And congratulations with making it official with Steve."  
Lily grinned at the thought of her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend and left with the aura around her that she not only sat on, but owned the top of the world.

"You do know she was lying, right?" James asked, turning back to Rose. Her eyes flew openen and she looked at him in bewilderment. "What?" She asked.  
"Oh, I didn't know you were tired. I can go." James said and he stood up. Rose shook her head. She seemed in pain again. "No, please, stay. It's kind of boring here. I have nothing to do."  
James grinned. "hence the happiness when I came." Rose hugged a pillow to her chest. "Well, When you aren't terrorising Al, or terrorising all of us with a broomstick, you are bearable." James nodded. It was nice to hear that from her.  
"What did Al yell that made you turn into this human being?" Rose asked with the ghost of a smile. James' face contorted. "Just the truth."  
"Which one?"  
James raised an eyebrow at the unusual thing to say. "What do you mean?" He asked. Rose shrugged. James noticed once again how pain flitted over her face at the simple movement, but she said nothing about it. He wondered if he should call madame Felicia."Which truth? There are more, you know." James raised an eyebrow. He wondered how Rosie's mind worked that she came to this conclusion. It was true, she was very, very smart, but James had also learned that she looked differently against life.  
"I guess there are." he agreed. "He just told me how selfish I was being and how much of an irksome prick I am." He grinned at the memory. It had been quite funny, looking back at it, when those angry green eyes were no longer on him. Al, the quiet tempered boy that was - let's face it - known for having no spine, yelling at him, his older brother who was known for teasing everyone and having never-ending confidence.  
Not that he had never ending confidence. Sure, he was sure of himself, but he would ponder his own behaviour from time to time. It was just hard to resist giving in to the temptation of teasing.  
"He'll turn around." Rose reassured him. She gripped his arm and sat upright. "And I'll make the quidditch game. I know you've been meaning to ask the whole time." James felt himself become red and looked away from her. "I..." He had. It had been in the back of his mind the whole time.

"Yes. it was." he said confidently. No use lying to Rose. She said it herself, she was practically a genius. "So I don't have to look for a substitute?" Rose shook her head, slightly amused at the change of his tone. "Nope. You're stuck with me." James grinned in triumph. He wasn't sure if he could train someone else up to their level on so short notice.  
"So why are you here all alone most of the time?" James asked after a long silence. Rose's eyes shifted form her hands to him. "I Dunno. Sick people make our family nervous and uncomfortable so they make short visits, if they make them at all, and Abby and Terrance are busy with homework." She gestured to a large pile of books next to her bed.  
"You made homework while you are injured? Honestly Rose?" James shook his head in disappointment. "You are far too much like aunt Hermione for your own good.  
"That makes no sense." Rose said.  
"Yes it does. Everything I say does." James said with a wink. "But you were right."  
"About your statement being incorrect and insensible?"  
James scowled. "You must be the only one I know who actually uses those kind of words." He shook his head. "No, about us being uncomfortable around the sick." Rose caught on quickly and nodded, smiling slightly. She was always smiling.  
"Go. I have some more homework to do anyway." And she reached out for one of the books. James looked how she struggled for a moment. He doubted that she could really be ready for the match in a few days. He didn't offer help though. Rose wouldn't want that. She was proud.  
"Get well soon, Rosie." James said, messing up her already messed up hair. Rose shot him a playful - or maybe not so playful, he remembered she hated it when someone touched her hair - glare and politely said her goodbyes.

~~~~O.0~~~~

Scorpius had had absolutely no desire to go to Weasley's bedside again after she'd so gracefully passed out on him, but it seemed that life wanted to rub his nose in the fact that what he - an obidiant wizard that answered to the laws of nature - desired, held absolutely no weight. It also cleared up an issue Scorpius had been struggling with for a long time. Yes, life did have a sense of humour. An unpleasant one.

Scorpius was walking through Hogwarts in an uncharacteristically bad mood that hung over him like a curtain. He was still recovering from a very bad day.  
It had started from the moment he had woken up. He had been late. Scorpius had never been late in his entire career attending Hogwarts. Scorpius had called a maniac on multiple mornings, when he - being ever the morning person - dragged Scorpius out of bed. Scorpius regretted it. Al had not woken him that morning, and Scorpius had nearly been late for quidditch practice.  
He could only shudder to think what James would have done to him if he had been late.  
There was no doubt in Scorpius mind that James might conciser the incident with Weasley an unfortunate accident. He had all but taken a whip to Scorpius. After two miserable hours in the freezing morning air, Scorpius had come to the conclusion that James had had too much detention in his life; he had learned all the legal ways of torture, and was not afraid to use that knowledge.  
He had only been allowed to leave when Kevin had come to save him from death. _Here lies Scorpius Malfoy, who had given his life by bravely sacrificing himself in an__ quidditch practice._He had been denayed the luxourety of breatfast. Instead, he was ushered directly to mind-numbing potions. Rotten subject. He wondered why Kevin took it. He sometimes even wondered why he took it, and was reminded by one thing or another about his natural talent for potions.

Potions itself wasn't even bad. Their professor was just so dreadfully awful, She corrupted everything to do with her. She had this snobby air around herself that made it quite clear that she thought no mere _student_ could brew a potion that was half as good as a potion she had quickly poured together. Nonsense of course, considering he had more talent in the tip of his... - er - ... ear.. than she had in her whole body.

He was sure that if anyone asked her, she would tell them proudly that she had been in Ravenclaw in her time. Not that she showed any favouritism; she was the type.

She bugged him to no end, and was the reason why he had never spent any energy on the subject.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even made the effort of learning her name. He could swear it was something snobby and high-hearted.

Scorpius had spent the lesson nurturing his wound - and empty stomach - and brooding in silence. He hadn't been able to do much more that that until lunch, when he was able to solve one of the two sores.

"Watch where you're going." Scorpius said. He glared at the second year as he shrank away like the pathetic excuse of a wizard he was. It felt good to vend his frustration of a day gone completely wrong off on someone. It felt good to see someone cower in his wake, even if it was completely pathetic, absoluetly petty and undeniably childish.

He tightened his grip on the books and scrolls he was holding and walked on without do much of a waver in his steps.

Why did he have to be the one to bring this bloody homework to bloody Weasley? _Bloody Weasley, Cause of death, Infused donor blood wrong blood type._ Just because he was the only other student that had the mental capacity to take arithmancy - It didn't matter that someone tutored him - while being in Griffindor (Let's face the music, most Griffindors were considerably more brawny than brainy), shouldn't automatically mean he should be the one to bring her the bloody homework. Thinking like that should be banned. It made the ridge between the houses more prominent. When Griffindors were ill, the teachers should encourage not only Griffindor house, but also the other houses to help them. The Ravenclaw tower was a bloody two minutes walk from the hospital wing in any case, while the Griffindor tower was at the other side of the castle.

He should have sent a Ravenclaw, in the spirit of house unity and practicality. It was better for both Hogwarts and the wizarding community as a whole.

Scorpius aimed a kick at a random armour. Fuck it. The arguments were absolute baloney. Scorpius did not no believe a word of it himself. Frankly, Scorpius was surprised at the sense the hippogriffshite made.

He would have done the same thing as the professor. Of course you sent a Griffindor to bring another Griffindor her homework. It was logical. It made sense.

It wasn't like he knew the two students got along as well as water and oil.

Only a small group was privileged to that information. He and Weasley had been that smart. It just wasn't a good idea to fight with someone openly. It got you into trouble and detention. Worse, it got you a bad name and the last thing Scorpius wanted was for a letter to fly home and inform his father that Scorpius had been behaving inappropriately at school.

Most people passed the things that happened to him and Weasley off to James' pranks. Scorpius was convinced that the only staff members that knew of their occasional fighting were madame Felicia - She had patched them up so may times, they had ran out of excuses. They just told her the truth now, on the condition it was all confidential- , and professor Longbottom, their head of house. Scorpius suspected he had forced it out of of of the Potters - probably Al - over the holidays, when they were less vigilant. Maybe professor McGonagall - _McGonagall, Mc gone a gall, Mc Gone's the girl_ - knew as well, she was headmistress.

So he had been sent to bring Rose bloody Weasley her homework. Just the great ending to this fucking great day he needed.

Scorpius slipped in the hospital wing without disturbing the silence.

The voice of Madame Felicia rang through the room form one of the private rooms. When Wealsey's voice answered, Scorpius leaned against the wall and decided to wait. They were probably in the middle of a healing session. Scorpius had read somewhere you should never interrupt when a healed was working on a patient. The mistakes born from those situations were apparently disastrous and often irreversible.

"I can. Look at how much you've patched me up already." Weasley said.

"No you can't Rose. You aren't strong enough. I was the best healer at St. Mungo's when I left, and I was barely able to keep you alive. The amount of blood you lost-" Madame Felicia.

"And you did an excellent job, madame. I'm feeling great."

"Rose, you can't play in that match this weekend. You mustn't even leave the hospital wing for at least another week." Scorpius perked up. He could have sworn that James had told the team that Rose would be playing while he had been forced to do push-ups on the frozen ground.

"But the whole team counts on me. James needs me." Weasley said, her voice slightly raised.

"Rose, you can't even fly a broomstick for at least three weeks, let stand play in a game where there are two balls with the soul purpose to inflict as much damage as they can."

"But-"

"And I am sure James doesn't want to jeopardise your health any more than I want to. He will understand." Madame Felicia interrupted. The tone of her voice quite clearly said _dare to disagree and you're stuck here for a month. _

Weasley sighed. "You're right... But really, three weeks?"

"Your left leg was severely damaged. It's weak and needs rest."

Scorpius stood for a moment, uncertain of what to do, then slipped out of the hospital wing.

_What the fuck just happened?_

_~~.~~_

**Bit overdue. I know, I'm sorry. I hope you liked it, if you did, let me know. If you didn't, let me know why. **


End file.
